Who is your favorite fictional character? Fictional protagonist, that is, not the bad guy. If you can't narrow it down to one, could you narrow it down to a few? What traits to admire in these characters? What weaknesses do they have that possibly reflect your own (hence, why you might be able to identify with them)? What fictional protagonist do you like the least?
I have to say that one of my least favorite protagonists is Bella Swan from the Twilight series. I find her so annoying that I could hardly get through the books, yet I still HAD to read them all just to find out how they ended. I found Edward quite annoying also, to be precise, but she was just sickening. I couldn't identify with her in the slightest. She was so whiny and swoony, it was pathetic. And I couldn't figure out why she was such a catch in Oregon when she wasn't in Phoenix. Was Stephenie Meyer trying to suggest that boys in Phoenix are blind or that boys in Oregon know true beauty or what? How can you go from being pretty much an invisible loner to a very visible loner just because of moving? The novelty didn't seem to wear off through the whole series, yet, I've moved enough to know that the novelty of being new eventually wears off and you are no longer "fresh meat" after the first few months.
I think one of my favorite characters is Anne Shirley because I can really identify with her. She spends her whole life dreaming and imagining, which has always been a vice of mine. She has a temper to match her hair, but I don't think redheads are the only ones who supposedly have such tempers--mine could easily be more thunderous than any of the redheads I know, and I know quite a few. I also like Hermione Granger because I see myself in her as well--the studious, by-the-book rule-keeper. And when I was a child, my favorite was Ramona Quimby. I even thought I would be what she would have looked like--short, chin-length brown hair and brown eyes, plain-faced, and I spent my time creating with crayons just like she did.
What do you think?
4 comments:
Great questions!
I'm going to have think about it. I have many favorite characters. So it would be hard to pin down just one.
One of my favorites is Amelia Peabody Emerson from Elizabeth Peters mystery series. She is tough, incredibly intelligent, meddlesome, self-confident (almost to the point of arrogance) and madly in love with her husband.
One of my least favorites is Catherine from Wuthering Heights. I hated that book from the beginning to the end. Catherine was a horrid person and the whole book just was too awful.
I agree with you about Bella. I couldn't even finish the last book because it was just too annoying. I didn't like Edward either. My favorite character was Jacob, until the last book. Then it was all weird. I thought the whole Edward/Bella relationship was odd and very unhealthy.
I could probably go on and on but I really need to fix dinner.
Have you ever read any Wharton? Some of her heroines are pretty dislikable, but entertaining (Lily Bart in House of Mirth), but I find both of the lead female characters in the Age of Innocence absolutely captivating and both sympathetic-- even though they are seemingly presented in opposition.
I never read Twilight, but from the thirty or so minutes of the film I saw, Bella seemed pretty terrible!
I wanted to add that I re-read Twilight, and Wuthering Heights is often referred to in the book. I figured out why, it must be because Bella and Edward are just as horrible as Catherine and Heathcliff.
Wuthering Heights is the WORST book in the world. I hated every minute of reading it. AWFUL!
Post a Comment