Inspirations of Penelope

Another inspiration meme for my very first OC since I started Fanfiction. Here is my James and the Giant Peach OC, Penelope Trotter, James's foster older sister. I plan to revise my James and the Giant Peach Fanfiction this year.
 
Clockwise starting from bottom left:

1. Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Esmeralda, the heroine from Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" has been the number one inspiration for Penelope. Esmeralda is a young Romani woman who is a dancer and performs at the Feast of Fools to make her living for a better life. She is also determined to survive the hardships in Paris from Judge Claude Frollo (who has a high racist view of the Roma) and prays to God for a miracle to keep her people and other outcasts (like Quasimodo) safe, but also accepted into society. Before meeting James and his parents, Penelope and her parents were originally from France, but fled to England when the Axis Powers conquered the country, arresting Jews and the Roma left and right. Despite being safe with the Trotters and being best friends/siblings with James (after losing her parents), Penelope is fiery and distrustful towards strangers thinking she would be harassed or arrested. But she is also a kind-hearted, brave, and selfless soul who cares about James, Jaelle, and others who aren't fortunate as her. During her time with the abusive Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker (who cruelly mistreated her for being Romani and more beautiful than them), Penelope would pray to God in hopes that someday things would get better for her and James, hoping that there would be a place where she can be safe and accepted by society and treated as a person, not property.

2. Lucy Gray Baird (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes)

When I was considering on my revision, I realized that Penelope is similar to the 10th Hunger Games Victor, Lucy Gray Baird. Lucy Gray was born into a nomadic group called the Covey, who traveled out of the Districts during the Dark Days and performed with singing and music as entertainment to make their living. Lucy Gray becomes an orphan after losing her parents and two older siblings to the Peacekeepers and is forced to live in District 12 with the surviving Covey. Lucy Gray is a skilled singer and plays her guitar when she gives shows at the Hob to make her living. Penelope endured hardships of escaping anti-Roma groups and is adopted by James and his parents after her parents were murdered. Since the Romani people were known for their nomadic life style, bright colors, and music/performing. Penelope is known to have a beautiful singing voice and plays a guitar and tambourine, and has dreams of becoming a singer and musician. During her adventure on the Giant Peach with James, Jaelle, and the Bugs, Penelope rediscovers her father's guitar that was magically fixed after it got destroyed by Spiker and Sponge. Feeling her inspiration and memory of her dreams of musical passion coming back, she decided to give a performance for James and the Bugs.

3. Tzipporah (The Prince of Egypt)

Both Penelope and Tzipporah and true, kind, loyal, and protective of their close ones and have a strong belief in God. Penelope is protective of her adopted brother James and Tzipporah is protective of her younger sisters. Both are fiercely defensive and fiery towards people they meet, but once they start to get to know them, they begin to warm up.

4. Miriam (The Prince of Egypt)

Both Penelope and Miriam (the biological sister of Moses) have been cruelly enslaved by guardians/rulers with high prejudicial views towards the Roma and Hebrews (Penelope by Spiker and Sponge, Miriam by Pharaoh Seti and Ramses). Both of them have a deep faith in God and everyday would pray for a miracle that life will get better in the future.

5. Thumbelina

Both girls are kind, beautiful, and big-hearted. They are thrust into the unknown world and have a big adventure. Along the way, they learn to stand up to their foes and follow their hearts to do the right thing.

6. Cinderella

Since being sent to Spiker and Sponge's home after the deaths of James's parents, Penelope and James were abused, humiliated, and forced to become servants for their relatives. Spiker and Sponge treated Penelope the worst due to their jealously of the Romani girl's charm and beauty. The aunts hoped that by giving Penelope endless, back-breaking work, her beauty would diminish, but the girl continued to grown more beautiful. Both Cinderella and Penelope have a few things in common, they are mistreated and made into servants by their new stepfamily after their beloved parents died (Cinderella by Lady Tremaine, Drizilla, and Anastasia; Penelope and James by Spiker and Sponge). Despite all the hardships and abuse the heroines endured, both of them never lost their faith and remained gentle and kind, and prayed that their dreams of happiness would come true. Penelope's (even James) dream came true when she and James encountered the Magic Man (similar to Cinderella's Fairy Godmother) who gave them "crocodile tongue", promising them that with their magic, marvelous things will happen.

7. Miguel Rivera (Disney's Coco)

Both Miguel and Penelope are young kids who have a passion for both music and singing. Both are skillful at playing the guitar and have beautiful singing voices. However, they live at a home where music and singing is forbidden, Miguel's family have a strict ban on music due to one of their ancestors abandoning them for a pursuit in music and never returning (until the truth was revealed that Hector was murdered by Ernesto before he planned to return home) and Spiker and Sponge thought Romani music was trash and horrible, even though they do listen to their own music on the radio during their dinner. Not to mention however that Penelope and Miguel's special guitars (and her tambourine) were taken away and destroyed in front of them by their relatives (Miguel's guitar by his crazy music-hating grandmother, and Penelope's instruments by Spiker and Sponge). Both of them experience a new and strange adventure to learn the value of family and following their hearts to find their passion.

Honorable Mentions:

Anastasia Romanov/Anya (Don Bluth's Anastasia)

Satine (Moulin Rouge)

Nala (The Lion King)

Giselle (Enchanted)

Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

All Characters belong to their respective owners.

James and the Giant Peach belongs to Roald Dahl/Disney

Penelope belongs to me

Link to meme: