In Jenny Offil’s “Weather,” our lead protagonist Linzie can be described as someone who takes life day by day and has no particular “goal” that keeps her going every day. This to me was very interesting because, comparing this to the protagonists in “The Parable of the Sower,” Lauren and Piya from the Ghosh’s “The Hungry Tide,” we have three different kinds of female protagonists. 

In Butler’s Sower, Lauren is this very strong female character that defies the norms of what a woman should be in her town. The women in Robledo were expected to get married and stay home with the children. If they wanted to work, they could work from home or service their community in “safe ways.” Lauren actively fought against these stereotypes; she was the pastor’s daughter, and this came with access to scriptures and books. Lauren lived in a totally dystopian world where at any moment they could lose their livelihood and their lives. Lauren made the decision to learn as much as she could about maps and nature to increase her chances of survival for when the inevitable happens. When the inevitable happened—the burning of Robledo and its community—the only person who was prepared for this was Lauren. This preparation gave her a chance to survive and create a new community where she is the leader but not a dictator.

In Ghosh’s Tide, Piya is a scientist who is going to Sundarbans to survey the Gangetic and Irrawaddy river dolphins. Piya is the kind of protagonist who also, in my opinion, defies the stereotypes placed on women. When other people tried to delay her trip, she found other ways around it. Even if this meant going to the boat of a stranger and trusting them with her life. This bravery she has is what leads her to meet Fokir, someone who becomes crucial to leading her to these dolphins. The thing I see most in common between Lauren and Piya is that they both have strong personalities and motivations that give their lives meaning. Their stories are based on this common need to survive or to excel.

This is important because going into “Weather” by Jennifer Offil, I was expecting a similar protagonist, with something in her life that’s pushing her to prove herself.. Linzie, however, is the complete opposite, in my opinion. The novel is written in random entries of Lizzie’s life, almost like her inner thoughts. Nothing is really explained, and yet from what I have understood, she doesn’t have this “driving force” in her life that she actively wants. Someone in class said that “she doesn’t affect life; life affects her,” and that’s the best way to describe her character. Compared to Lauren and Piya, Lizzie is married and has a child named Eli. She works as a librarian in what we assume to be a college since a few of her writings have some students she interacts with. This is an interesting parallel for me because we have Lauren and Piya, women, who ran away from the traditional gender roles, and they are made to be these motivated women, yet there’s Lizzie, who took this traditional path, and she is unmotivated—her job as a librarian she got from a friend. Life just happens to her, while Lauren and Piya make life move. I am interested in finding out where Linzie goes in this story and the role climate change is going to play and how this is going to push her to become a better version of herself, as it did for Piya and Lauren.