I’m going to describe the female main character from the latest book I’ve read: she eats a lot but never gains weight; she’s beautiful, but somehow thinks she’s ugly; she’s dangerous but helpless at the same time, and most of all, she’s not like the other girls. If this sounds familiar, it is because this description details a majority of popular female main characters, or FMCs, written and read by today’s generation. How does literature influence our identities? How do not only the personalities of characters change us, but also their physical traits? Even if you aren’t a big reader, you can probably relate these traits to female movie and TV characters. Vi from Fourth Wing, Paedyn from Powerless, and Sophie from Keeper of the Lost Cities are just a few prominent examples of this type of characterization in books that influence many reader’s identities all around the world.
For young readers, mainly girls, these influential characters are role models and written portrayals of the perfect girl. Many young readers feel pressure to pick up traits exhibited by fictional female characters, even with their unrealistic expectations. This concept of the perfect woman is not only displayed in young adult fiction, but also reflects the standards that are upheld by society in real life. Consequently, trying to take after descriptions of popular FMCs gets very confusing, as the contradictions and unattainable standards in their personalities are apparent. The women main characters are usually described as very small, and helpless looking; as Violet from Fourth Wing, a very popular young adult fiction, states in the very first chapter: “I’m too short. Too frail. What curves I do have should be muscle, and my traitorous body makes me embarrassingly vulnerable”. This is a stark contrast to her brazen nature and ability to fight, because somehow, despite being “too short” and “too frail,” Violet is one of the best fighters in the book, and, by the end, the most powerful. Unfortunately, this quote is very similar to descriptions of dozens of other girls in modern popular books.
The double standard in Fourth Wings’s example is embarrassingly obvious: she looks delicate but is lethal. As Violet’s physical description can pretty much sum up most popular female main characters in young adult books, her readers are taught that looking strong isn’t appealing. Not only is looking strong not appealing, but being weak is also unappealing. Almost always, authors glorify the FMC bottling feelings until eventually another character unscrews the bottle without being asked. Violet’s older sister advises, “This might sound harsh, but don’t seek friendships in there, Violet”. Due to her sister’s advice, Violet spends two thirds of the book attempting to hide her feelings from others so she doesn’t appear “weak.” However, this habit isn’t realistic, and influencing readers to wait for someone to realize something is wrong instead of stating the problem is just one of many unhelpful traits that female main characters are usually written with, as well as always being too quirky or different to have many friends.
Why are young women typically written in such a generic way? In most modern young adult novels, many authors ignore the essential parts of being a woman, and others describe them as flaws. For example, body hair or periods are conveniently ignored unless the author is describing a dislikable or villainous character. These characters are written to be relatable to the reader, but this is simply not the case. Instead, it leaves the audience wondering if their own personalities are lacking because the book character is only liked for her “differences.” This desire to be different in order to be better than the “other girls” pits young readers against each other in an effort to be the perfect person that fictional females portray. All of these arguments about the unfair pressure put on female readers is not to say that male characters are written particularly realistically either; it is fiction after all. However, statistically most young readers are female, and as readers know, a book is usually more enjoyable when the reader identifies with the character whose perspective they are embodying.
