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5 of Our Favorite Fictional Girls with Pluck
Pluck. Dictionaries define it as “spirited courage”, “audacity”, even “stout-heartedness.” But generations of book-lovers have defined it by the female heroes of classic fiction—feisty, ferocious characters like Jo March, Francie Nolan, Sara Crewe, and legions of their stout-hearted sisters.
These were the first superstars of middle-grade fiction. They came of age during the the 19th and early 20th centuries, when social straightjackets were way more snug, and female roles more rigidly defined. That’s part of their appeal—the willingness to defy convention, despite the costs and consequences. Because let’s face it, the stakes were higher then. Any girl who broke the rules paid a price. And she was often hailed as a hero only in retrospect.
So what’s pluck, and why do we admire it? Let’s start by saying what it isn’t—and that’s fearlessness. Our favorite heroines are filled with fears; that’s what makes them so relatable—and heroic. There isn’t a girl alive (except maybe Taylor Swift, who is actually a CGI hologram)—who hasn’t felt the queasy stew of discomfort and defiance that comes with adolescence. Girls who occupy this space on the game board—on the very brink of young womanhood—have two things in common: an urgent need to belong, and the contrary desire to step out of the crowd, into her independence.
The girl heroes of fiction have these impulses, and then some. But when push comes to shove—when a cherished principle is at stake, or someone they love is in peril—they take action, take risks, talk back, and slay dragons of every stripe.
Here are a few of my favorites.
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Jo March (Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Jo lived well north of the Mason-Dixon Line, but no fictional character has inspired more young rebels than our Jo. Growing up in the Civil War era that also produced Scarlett O’Hara, Jo tweaks the nose of tradition by becoming a writer, a profession largely closed to women of her time. She scandalizes her prim sisters with her slang (“Christopher Columbus!”). Under the pen name Joseph March, she churns out potboilers filled with mayhem and murder. Jo is stubborn, proud and wonderfully prickly; in perhaps the most famous episode of Little Women, she sells her hair rather than beg snippy Aunt March for money. What a piece of work is Jo!
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Francie Nolan (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith)
Like the tree that grows in the concrete yard of her tenement, Francie Nolan only seems fragile. In truth, her roots run deep, and she is a wellspring of strength. Like her father Johnny, a singing waiter, Francie is a dreamer. Like her mother Katie, a pessimist hardened by poverty, she’s determined to survive, mainly through education. To get into a good school district, she lies about her address and walks miles to class each day. And oh yes, she also plays the Christmas tree game! Every Christmas Eve, a local merchant (a bit of a bully, let’s face it) gets rid of surplus trees by throwing them at the street urchins! If the kids can catch the trees without falling, they keep them. Francie’s first in line for this game—and you’d better believe she bags a nice big tree.
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Sara Crewe (A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett)
Sara is the only child of a wealthy captain. When her father apparently is killed at war, she goes from pampered darling to servant at her fancy girls’ school. Thus demoted to scullery maid, poor Sara must endure the ridicule of the other girls, and outright abuse from evil schoolmistress Miss Minchin, who seems to delight in her downfall. But Sara is plucky. She refuses to believe her father is dead, and haunts the military hospitals looking for him. In this classic Victorian novel, she’s no shy violet, but an unquenchable force of nature.
Dorothy Gale (The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Her pals on the Yellow Brick Road are after courage, brains and heart. All Dorothy wants is to go home. But to get there, the Kansas farm girl must bronco-ride a twister, face down lions, tigers, and flying monkeys, and kill a couple of wicked witches. Keep in mind, all her problems started when she sassed back that cranky old biddy Miss Gulch! Dorothy proves every girl can have what she wants, if she dares to claim it.
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Pollyanna Whittier (Pollyanna, by Eleanor H. Porter)
Just when did her name turn into an insult (“Don’t be such a Pollyanna”)? This girl, who always walks the sunny side of the street, is onto something. Sometimes it’s tough to be optimistic about life; it’s especially hard when swagger and cynicism are considered more cool. Pollyanna proves that optimism can change minds, heart, and even the course of history.
And the list goes on: A hat-tip to Velvet Brown of Enid Bagnold’s National Velvet, Matilda Wormwood of Roald Dahl’s Matilda, Meg Murry of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, and latter-day girl heroes like Hermione Granger and Katniss Everdeen. These plucky girls will never go out of style; they will endure. Because they are us, in all our splendor and uncertainty.
Who are your favorite plucky girls of children’s literature?