Elantris: How NOT to Write a Female Character

I was very disappointed in Elantris by Brandon Sanderson for many reasons, but I will focus upon the female protagonist Sarene.

Sarene is meant to be a strong and independent woman in a patriarchal society.  However, there is not much depth or detail to the patriarchy, and quite a lot of the men tend to accept her without any serious difficulties.  King Iadon seems to be the main exception.  Iadon hates Sarene and considers her a nuisance.  Sanderson tells the reader instead of showing the reader how intelligent Sarene is.  Because he tells and does not show, the reader never witnesses her strength and independence.

Sanderson attempts to portray Sarene's intelligence by denigrating all the other women in the book and by writing the other women as mindless chatterboxes, which is a sexist stereotype.  These few lines from page 23 are an example:

"Sarene nodded, fascinated - not by the conversation, but by the queen. Sarene had assumed her lecturers at her father's academy had been skilled at saying nothing with lots of words, but Eshen put them all to shame. The queen flitted from one topic to the next like a butterfly looking for a place to land, but never finding one suitable enough for an extended stay."

I have no doubt that most women in patriarchy spent a considerable amount of time in conversation with each other.  Even though they might not be able to act, they can discuss serious events such as politics and cultural problems.  Instead of being a mindless chatterbox, Eshen could have been a witty character who shared valuable information with Sarene.  Sarene pretends to be silly and frivolous to deceive king Iadon.  The patriarchy expects women to be silly and frivolous (pg 55), but in this book, women actually are that way with Sarene being the exception that proves the rule.

Later on, in another failed attempt to make Sarene seem somehow feminist, Sanderson wrote her as being inept at the expected feminine hobbies.  Sarene is unable to sew or paint.  So, she lacks any sort of artistic ability whatsoever.  In the end, this flaw merely makes her all the more ineffectual.  I will reach the end soon.

Sarene stumbles her way to usurping Iadon (pg 410) and accidentally discovers a scandal.  How do the men including her father react?  Instead of regarding her as a serious person, they coo over her.  What a cute little woman she is!

"A month and a half and you've already dethroned the king."
...
Her father chuckled.  "I should never have sent you over there.  You were bad enough when we let you visit our enemies." (421)

And at the end, Sarene becomes a helpless damsel-in-distress who does not resist much.  Her prince mirculously overcomes his dementia and rescues her from a religious zealot.  At the end of the novel, Sarene is a useless and ineffectual character who does very little to advance the story on her own initiative.