Penelope Bunce
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Penelope - Penny - Bunce |
| Occupation: | Student, Mage |
| Relationships: | Simon Snow (best friend), previously in a relationship with Micah Cordero |
| Fandom: | Carry On, Fangirl |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Penelope Bunce (hereafter Penny) is a character from the Carry On series by Rainbow Rowell
She is also mentioned in Rowell’s earlier novel Fangirl, which tells the story of a BNF in the fictional Simon Snow series written by fictional author Gemma T. Leslie
Overview
Penny is Simon's best friend, and clearly an analogue for Hermione Granger. She's smart, powerful, and often saves the day.
She's half English, half Indian, wears 'witchy' glasses and has dyed her hair red and blue in canon (and purple in most fans' headcanons). When she first appeared in Fangirl, her appearance was not described beyond the fact that she had red hair and witchy glasses, so a very small amount of early fanart (and possibly fic) depicts her as white. For example, this commission by Bev Johnson from 2014. This is not whitewashing, as it was a reasonable assumption to make at the time, and possibly Rowell's intention before she redesigned the character for Carry On.
The later Fangirl manga (2020) also depicts Penny as a Person of Colour (half Indian), the same as in Carry On.
Fandom
Penny is widely liked by fandom. Most fans appreciate that she's a chubby, nerdy Person of Colour who has her own story and so often solves Simon's problems for him. She is frequently depicted in art.
Despite her popularity as a character, there are relatively few fics that focus mostly on Penny, since almost all Carry On fic is Snowbaz. There are a small number of Penny shippy fics (see below) and a few gen fics that may be focused on her friendship with Baz, or her Indian heritage.
However, many SnowBaz fics do feature Penny in a supporting role. In Watford era fics, she may help Simon with his schemes to expose Baz or put right whatever he's done to Baz (generally, coming up with the right spell); or counsel him against messing with Baz. In a smaller number of fics, she's responsible for them getting together as she's so fed up with them not being.
She usually advises Simon to break up with Agatha, similarly to her behaviour in the book. Sometimes she realises that he's in love with Baz, or may be told that they're together at the end at which point she'll generally acknowledge that makes sense. She occasionally gets her own first-person POV sections, even in SnowBaz fics, but these will generally be focused on their romantic lives.
- The Truth Will Set You Free by sorbriquette - Penny helping with spells, Penny POV
- Don't Hate The Player, Hate The Game by annabellelux (NSFW) - Penny causes the SnowBaz get together
In post Watford fics, she is either Simon's flatmate (as in canon) or may have moved to America to live with Micah, or moved in with Shepard. She may help Baz with Simon's mental health. Her wedding to either Shepard or Micah may be a plotpoint or setting.
- The Wedding Guest by LilMcGill, Penny/Micah wedding, Agatha finds out about SnowBaz
- Nice and Easy by twokisses, SnowBaz getting ready for Penny/Shepard wedding
In AUs, she usually live with Simon and is his best friend. She will probably play a combination of the roles described above.
Ships
Before Wayward Son, Penny was almost exclusively shipped with Micah, her canonical boyfriend. After Wayward Son, she is almost exclusively shipped with Shepard. Fics actually focusing on these ships are very rare, however.
A small number of fanworks also ship her with Agatha.
Example Fanworks
Fanfiction
- For Always by scone-lover, Penny&Simon friendship
- Illuminate by twokisses
- Bonfire Night by amphipodgirl, Penny/Agatha and SnowBaz, fake relationship
Fanart
One of Venessa Kelley's oldest Carry On pieces, showing Penny with purple hair[1]
"Penny in Wayward Son" by Parijg, 2019 [2]
Resources
References
- ^ Tumblr, Sep 20th, 2018
- ^ parijpg Tumblr, Dec 4th, 2019