One of the favorite hypothetical discussions among my college roommates was “Who would play you in a movie of your life?” During that time I pretty much settled on Julia Louis Dreyfus (Elaine of "Seinfeld") but now I’m moving more toward Tina Fey (of the brilliant "30 Rock"). The answer to the question is more about personality than looks, even if they are both short, curly-haired women with glasses.
With this is mind, who do you consider your fictional counterpart in the book world? For me, the following come to mind as top contenders: Emily of New Moon (heroine of the Emily series by L.M. Montgomery), Hermione Granger, Lizzie Bennett, Flora Poste (of Cold Comfort Farm), Lucy Pevensie, Josephine March, and Blue Van Meer (of Special Topics in Calamity Physics). (I also share frizzy hair anxiety with Molly of Wives and Daughters.) None of them are 100% matches (only a few are afflicted with chronic Wanderlust like I am, and none of them get as excited about Melba Toast as I), but they each have backbone, are creative, or have moments with which I resonate strongly. The critical point is they are either nerdy or unconventional enough that they don’t fit in, yet in spite of some misgivings, they are their own odd selves. Perhaps it's the narcissist in me, but when I see a bit of myself in a book, I feel a sense of ownership over that character.
So, who are you?
7 comments:
I know they're not literary characters, but since you mentioned Tina Fey (which is a perfect fit, as we've discussed), I'm going with both Lindsey and Sam Weir from "Freaks and Geeks."
As for lit characters, I'd probably have to go with Aragorn.
Well, we know who Ed would be from Freaks and Geeks.
In all seriousness, if I had to pick from LOTR for you, it would be Faramir. Only with more sarcasm, obviously.
As an older you, Mr. Bennett (sarcasm central). There's also your namesake from Wodehouse to consider, but you're not quite that much of a cad.
My fictional counterpart in the wonderful world of books would most likely be Jason from "The Dark Side of Nowhere". When I first read that book in the fifth grade I couldn't stop thinking "Hey, this is me"! In the book, Jason lives in a little town in the middle of Kansas. He can't help but feel that something about the town and himself is not quite right. Throughout the book he is constantly struggling with who and what he thought he was and who and what he actually is. In the end, he decides that what you are may be predetermined but who you are is who you choose to be. Also, the kid on the front cover slightly resembles me at the time I read the book.
Snape?
Kevin, you are married. You can't be Snape. The man was utterly repellent to females! Poor fellow.
Sure, we can't hold everything about a character fixed in macking these comparisons. (For one, they are fictional and we aren't. For another, they aren't spatio-temporal, and we are. But that's philosopher-speak, and not for this blog.) We shouldn't say that Blue can't be your fictional counterpart simply becaue she went to Harvard, and you didn't.
I guess when I think of Snape, I don't rate his repugnancy to females or his bachelorhood as the most important or salient features of his character. And who's to say that I'm not "utterly repellent to females"? I might have just tricked Al, or be blackmailing her. :)
Plus, were I to grow my hair out, it too would be stringy and greasy too!
My literary character-self is part Elizabeth Bennett (hi, Ick!), part Anne of Green Gables -- almost always has been. I wonder if she always will be. But it's NOT the hair.
She's far less bipolar than I am, given that Anne's mood swings are romantic, and much more of a people person.
But who resembles me the most, I think -- or who I've identified with the most as I've grown up -- is Eowyn: sensitive, strong, fierce, always carrying an element of sorrow and tragedy, and yet she is ultimately happy, unexpectedly loved by a man who is both a scholar and a warrior, a man who draws out her heart.
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