Why I love Bronwyn Bruntley
I feel like I've never given Bronwyn enough credit as a character, because she is truly incredible and well-rounded, and is excellent representation of a woman. Ive just been thinking about her lately, and she stands out to me in so many ways: her appearance, her nature, the context of her time; and all of those things weave together perfectly and just makes me absolutely adore her.
She is a woman from the 1940s (although would’ve grown up mostly in the 30s) and yet she fully defies the expectations of women of her time, but done so in a realistic way. Whenever I see a character who “defies expectations of femininity” they usually tend to reject every aspect of what’s considered “feminine”. But not Bronwyn. She hates wearing dresses, as stated by Emma in book 1, and prefers to walk barefoot. She has her hair cropped short, she exudes a typically masculine appearance. Her peculiarity is even a more stereotypically masculine one: strength. But then she defies our expectations entirely. Despite being the most masculine woman of the group, she is described as being the most motherly to the younger children. Her “masculine” peculiarity is put to use in this maternal way, as it’s stated that her strong arms are perfect to hold the younger ones.
She is relatively unintelligent; not usually expected of a woman who defies gender norms, as they usually tend to be (or act) smarter than their peers. Additionally, when a woman is unintelligent, she is often depicted as extra girly and silly, “the dumb blonde”, the exact opposite of Bronwyn. In fact, Emma would be the character we expect to exhibit those traits. She certainly looks the part, and yet she is the opposite. She is clever and often times brutal, unlike the soft-hearted Bronwyn, who is slower and more gentle.
Moreover, this is what I love about Bronwyn and Emma as a duo. They complement each other so perfectly, neither truly defies femininity, they simply claim it in their own unique way. And I love this, because it’s such a perfect way to write strong female characters. A strong female character does not reject femininity, she embraces it in her own way, whether that be in appearance, behaviour, both, or neither. Its realistic ands makes for a very enjoyable character. Even the stereotypes she does fill, such as the big and strong character also being “dumb”, its not noticeable, nor does it take away from the story or her character because of everything else that breaks that stereotype.
I could've said a lot of this far more eloquently, as well as in far more depth, but I am short on time so this will have to do. I simply had to give Bronwyn the credit I believe she deserves, whether in full depth or not.
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