Mare Barrow
Series: Red Queen
Mare Barrow is the main character in the Red Queen series that is followed throughout the fourth and final book in the series: War Storm. Click here for some fan art portraits of her: https://jngodfrey.weebly.com/fan-art.html
In the begging of Red Queen, we see her as a thief that steals for her family, with a non-purposeful future. Not knowing or not planning for coming times is a common issue among young adults, which is a part of the reason why Red Queen is considered to be a YA novel. That, and the many elements that classify a novel such as, sub-plot romances, mostly teenage characters, and the discovery of one’s identity and purpose.
With Mare Barrow especially, you can clearly see the growth and findings of her own hopes and desires as the series progressed. I am a strong believer in change when it comes to main characters because if he/she did not develop in some way, that means that no true conflict was centered directly to them. And to not have that, is in my opinion, is a very big mistake. Even in minor characters, you should be able to notice somewhat of an adjustment, whether it be because of the actions the main character has made, or due to the world itself revolutionizing. And yes, I recognize that not all YA books have a corrupt world or even country, but what I mean by “revolutionizing”, is some form of redirection that will affect the main and side character(s) in a new way. That is just simple story progression.
For example, in Red Queen (the first book), Mare doesn’t really have any goals or motives. She wants to protect her family, but that’s about it. You don’t truly see Mare forming anything of the sorts until about the middle of the book, which is okay. This happens because even from the beginning she was well aware of the social conflict between the Reds and Silvers, and noticed the split even more in the castle, which led her to want to join a revolution. This makes sense because since she is a Red herself, she knows what it’s actually like to be thought and treated less than. In my opinion, that is when her character development began.
Now, moving on to the effect other characters had on her (which is extremely important). I believe that Maven had the most powerful effect on her change in not only personality, but also motivation to actually make a change. With Maven’s heart-rending betrayal, she was forced to strengthen not only her abilities but also her heart and mind, to be able to handle the pain and battles that seem to just keep building up. In hindsight, it was a defense mechanism, but a smart one, I think. This is what makes her a force to be reckoned with.
Veering towards the end of the series with the ultimate choice of either standing by Cal’s side as he takes reign as king of Norta or continues to fight with Reds for a better world. Of course, we all know that Cal is definitely not going to budge, so it really is up to Mare. Obviously, it is a difficult decision for her to make since she loves Cal, but also because she has so much faith in the Scarlet Guard and what it stands for. Both are very important to her, understandably so. This ties back to the point I made in the beginning with her taking a stand in society. Since she chose to side with the Scarlet Guard, which proves that she still feels the need to revolutionize. That the kingdom is still not where it needs to be, and she wants to fix that. I think that’s really brave of her to do, considering all that she has endured and left a person that she really, really cares about.
With all of her and other character’s actions throughout the story, it has truly impacted her character development. Mare Barrow is one of many females in YA that represent change, freedom, and fighting for justice. It sends an amazing message out to young readers. Very monumental.
In the begging of Red Queen, we see her as a thief that steals for her family, with a non-purposeful future. Not knowing or not planning for coming times is a common issue among young adults, which is a part of the reason why Red Queen is considered to be a YA novel. That, and the many elements that classify a novel such as, sub-plot romances, mostly teenage characters, and the discovery of one’s identity and purpose.
With Mare Barrow especially, you can clearly see the growth and findings of her own hopes and desires as the series progressed. I am a strong believer in change when it comes to main characters because if he/she did not develop in some way, that means that no true conflict was centered directly to them. And to not have that, is in my opinion, is a very big mistake. Even in minor characters, you should be able to notice somewhat of an adjustment, whether it be because of the actions the main character has made, or due to the world itself revolutionizing. And yes, I recognize that not all YA books have a corrupt world or even country, but what I mean by “revolutionizing”, is some form of redirection that will affect the main and side character(s) in a new way. That is just simple story progression.
For example, in Red Queen (the first book), Mare doesn’t really have any goals or motives. She wants to protect her family, but that’s about it. You don’t truly see Mare forming anything of the sorts until about the middle of the book, which is okay. This happens because even from the beginning she was well aware of the social conflict between the Reds and Silvers, and noticed the split even more in the castle, which led her to want to join a revolution. This makes sense because since she is a Red herself, she knows what it’s actually like to be thought and treated less than. In my opinion, that is when her character development began.
Now, moving on to the effect other characters had on her (which is extremely important). I believe that Maven had the most powerful effect on her change in not only personality, but also motivation to actually make a change. With Maven’s heart-rending betrayal, she was forced to strengthen not only her abilities but also her heart and mind, to be able to handle the pain and battles that seem to just keep building up. In hindsight, it was a defense mechanism, but a smart one, I think. This is what makes her a force to be reckoned with.
Veering towards the end of the series with the ultimate choice of either standing by Cal’s side as he takes reign as king of Norta or continues to fight with Reds for a better world. Of course, we all know that Cal is definitely not going to budge, so it really is up to Mare. Obviously, it is a difficult decision for her to make since she loves Cal, but also because she has so much faith in the Scarlet Guard and what it stands for. Both are very important to her, understandably so. This ties back to the point I made in the beginning with her taking a stand in society. Since she chose to side with the Scarlet Guard, which proves that she still feels the need to revolutionize. That the kingdom is still not where it needs to be, and she wants to fix that. I think that’s really brave of her to do, considering all that she has endured and left a person that she really, really cares about.
With all of her and other character’s actions throughout the story, it has truly impacted her character development. Mare Barrow is one of many females in YA that represent change, freedom, and fighting for justice. It sends an amazing message out to young readers. Very monumental.