Women Characters as Spies

[Shirayuki Hime]

Women spies can easily manipulate male soldier to spill out important information that can be use against enemies nations. In the eye of men, we woman, are innocent and inefficient, which is great when searching for useful information.

[danielleamy]

It's clear that the women are portrayed as strong, and their looks are used to their advantage. I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing. In this circumstance, their appearance worked in their favour

[Kishor Rao]

The female spies were one of my favorite characters. they were independent, incredibly fearless and always had some intelligence to impart which even the protagonists lacked sometimes. So I was really satisfied that they got to play significant roles in the story.

[Jlbaird85]

Unfortunately, I find too often that women who are spies are successful because the authors sexualize them. Rarely are their characters portrayed with any depth or intelligence. Where male characters are often portrayed as the strategists who use brute strength and weaponry skills to succeed.

[magnoparisi]

They were portrayed as strong, brave and good women. Sadly, the character development wasn't evident. For instance, Sarah was really important in capturing the thieves, but there is no psychological development of her character. She only says "orright orright". A terrible flaw, IMHO.

[Tamorie Hargro]

In your opinion, how were the women portrayed in the story? The German spies used belly dancers like Yasmina and Fahmy, and our main characters used prostitues like Fifi and Yvette, all to spy for their side's advantage.

Were the women portrayed to be independent and brave to be working as important assets to help win the war? Or were they depicted as easily manipulated and useful for their physical capabilities and characteristics?

Did you find them smart and fearless, or decietful and manipulative?

The women in this novel also captured a lot of my attention, but for good reason. I personally enjoyed their involvement in the war and all the side projects, and I believe they were no more manipulative than the male characters in the book.

Jacko and Jamie were constantly creeping around, breaking into places, donning disguises, gathering data from mutual friends, etc. Matt was especially manipulative (and crazy, evil, etc.) I think the women played their parts well. For one, they have an entirely different skill set/profession than the men, who were trained combatants. These women, who were generally friendly with everyone as inhabitants of the town, were some of the least suspicious characters. I don't find this controversial but rather an example of using your experiences to your advantage. So, I surely found these women brave and smart as well as deceitful/manipulative -- pretty much the same as the male characters.

[Gracedscribe]

While the belly dancers were young girls who did what they were told to do, the prostitutes were actually intelligent, strong women. They were instrumental in bringing success to the operation. They came up with their own ideas, gave suggestions, cautioned danger. They could take care of themselves. Our heroes sometimes looked like little boys in front of them.
The use of women was a reality of war that the author portrayed in the story. It was not something that he imagined up. The women were instrumental in these situations during the war. They used their bodies as weapons. Yes it was the objectification of them, but within those circumstances, I wonder whether it was just the reality of it- you do what you have to do to win when there's a war. I don't think they consider the right or wrong of it, and some of the women did it for the money.
The main characters, at least, treated these women with the utmost respect.
Depending on which side you are on, the women were strong, intelligent assets to the winning side, but manipulative, deceivers to the other

[Areej Tahir]

Though the women may be depicted as smart, there could still be an improvement in regard to their role and their character development. Women deserve more than stereotype roles, even if such roles seem to intend to show their strength or intelligence.

so true. I wish there was more character development and just some better ways to help them blend but still be spies.

[Felicity Granger]

I think Kater was trying to be both conscious of what little power women held in those times, for the most part, as well build up a storyline with strong women. We saw that the women were crafty and able, not falling short compared to their male counterparts but there was too little detail in their development and they seemed rather disposable and obviously not intrinsic to the plot. It's like the author abandoned them as the novel progressed.

[acopj]

I think it empowered more women to portay such valuable characters.. They are pretty good there

[Mrunal Tikekar]

I am glad you brought this up. I didn't like how women were generally portrayed in the book. In my opinion, most of the female spies were easily disposable. Out of all of them, Yasmina was the most well-developed. I couldn't tell the rest apart from one another. It felt like they were simply included to benefit and help Jamie, Jacko and the other lead male characters.

While they came across as smart, it was clear their looks and bodies did most of the work for them. They were effective in their roles but I wish more work could have been done to make their personalities shine through.

I second your thoughts. I had the same feeling that the women characters should have been more intelligently developed.

[siusantos]

I have mixed thoughts about this one. I mean, yay to girl power, but I feel like their professions made them too susceptible to suspicions. And they report to the guys in broad daylight! Come on.

[jhunt]

I also did not particularly like how women were perceived. They were portrayed as disposable and deceitful, and were not major characters but foils.

[maycherono91]

The author developed this storyline (women characters as spies) impeccably. One will admire these ladies' wits.

[Cwaganagwa Dorothy]

I think that there are two sides to this. For the villain's side, women were portrayed as beautiful, brave, strong, and intelligent because they were directly. That is, they get paid for being spies. On other hand those who worked as prostitutes but provided information were portrayed as manipulative and deceitful. That is because they were indirectly involved.