I've been thinking on this all week

[riseupwithfists]

Does anyone know of a Western world-based source text where all or almost all of the character deaths or departures are the straight white men? In texts where the character pool is significantly more varied than just straight white men, obviously.

Does such a source text even fucking exist? And I'm not trying to sound snide or trolly, I just honestly don't know, though I have my suspicions.

Tonight I tried to keep my story from becoming a full on musical because that's a bit hard to make work in the written word, and I watched Community for the first time. It was cute!

Comments

[gloss]

I cannot think of such a source. UGH.

Yay, Community! I only caught the last ten minutes, but dear god I love Abed & Troy. <3

[eisen]

I ... may be attempting to write one, actually. I'll let you know when someone dies.

I know I've never read such a thing before, though.

[msilverstar]

Not a lot before the 1970s, wow, hard to even think of any. I feel like even George Sand and Jane Austen are hugely relationship-focused.

Maybe some ensemble pieces, like Mary McCarthy's "The Group" but I don't remember it very well. Maybe Lillian Hellman. Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own.

Maybe Laura Ingalls Wilder. Anne of Green Gables.

Tillie Olsen, "Tell Me a Riddle"

in the 70s, Marge Piercy wrote a multi-character book about World War II, where I learned a lot more about the Pacific war than I had known before. It was both men and women, but, by the nature of the book, more of the men died.

Marilyn French, "The Women's Room".

Erica Jong tried, but she was pretty male-focused.

Vonda McIntyre, early feminist SF author. Also Johanna Russ.

"Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen"

Tamora Pierce, YA Fantasy books, published in the early 80s, great stuff.

While trying to remind myself, I hit this Bibliography of Early Women Writers. It's got everyone from Hildegard of Bingen to Margaret Mead.

[glitterandlube]

I doubt it exists. For all the whining [by retarded writers who suck at their jobs anyway dudes] about how white men are are not welcome in Hollywood - something like 95% or higher are white men and they aren't going to start tossing their beloveds out the window any time soon.

I'd have to sit down and make a list of character deaths in DC to see percentages and I can't do that at work right now. :|