Historically, throughout literature, there has been a genre in the way that authors.
portray the roles of women, a genre that has almost no association with women playing.
the role of the hero. Through further analysis of some stereotypical female roles from.
Wayson Choy's The Jade Peony, and Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman it will.
become evident that the females in these two novels are themselves heroes. Some.
stereotypical roles that women will often fulfill in literary works are, what I will be.
naming, the passive female, the unsympathetic woman, and the new woman. All of these.
roles, when considered more thoughtfully, are admirable in some sense or another and.
therefore heroic. .
Although both readers and writers of literature have failed to give heroines the.
recognition they deserve, this does not mean that the heroine does not exist. What this.
simply means is that within literature men have historically played the role if the hero and.
therefore society is unfamiliar with the idea of a heroine. This is explained in Nadya.
Aisenberg's Ordinary Heroines, ".the hero has nonetheless been our culture's central.
symbol. Hence within our male-dominated culture we experience great trouble conceiving.
a heroine"(10). Therefore, in order to examine the heroines in The Edible Woman and.
The Jade Peony we need to know what heroine-like qualities to look for. First, it is.
essential that a distinction is made between the qualities that define a hero and the qualities.
that define a heroine. As Aisenberg states, "women's voices and developmental.
experiences differ from those of men. The heroine substitutes moral courage and a moral.
voice for the hero's physical courage and sense of predestination"(13). As Norma Lorre.
Goodrich points out, in her novel entitled Heroines, a heroine must be an individual, a.
survivor, magnanimous and most of all she must posses and demonstrate an admirable.
personality(3-8). The three female roles, the passive female, unsympathetic woman and.
