As I began to talk about earlier, Martin's novel A Game of Thrones is broken up into different chapters, each observing one of eight different characters. Four of those characters are female, which already shows an importance of women in Martin's writing. I think that in Martin's writing, he purposely plays on the idea of gender stereotypes, but unlike Cinderella, he shows how easy it is for a girl to perpetuate, or break the stereotypes.
In my opinion, one of the strongest female characters in the novel is Arya Stark. Arya is just a little girl and when she was first introduced, I didn't really take to her. Her older sister Sansa tried to get Arya to attend a party that the queen was throwing and Arya refused to go. At first, I thought Arya was just young and stubborn... but as I continued to read, I discovered that Arya isn't just stubborn for the sake of being stubborn. Sansa believes that it is essentially a girl's duty to act proper, and eventually marry a handsome prince. Arya questions this and doesn't see why she has to be who others want her to be.
The following clip is from the first season of the TV series Game of Thrones. Arya's father finds a sword that Arya was secretly keeping and he tries to talk some sense into his daughter.
(Show 40 seconds, and 1:43)
Arya puts it perfectly. "I don't want to be a lady." She also asks her father, "how could you let him marry someone like that?" Arya is a strong character and a good role model, because she is a free thinker and can make decisions on her own - something Cinderella can't do.
