As I have pondered my own identity, I’ve often thought about fictional characters I’ve loved.
For example, I’ve so identified with the fictional character Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice that I:
- read the book multiple times,
- wrote my undergraduate thesis about the novels of Jane Austen,
- enjoyed all the depictions of her in film and TV adaptation, and
- as recently as yesterday thought again about how Elizabeth cares not about her appearance when she walks to see her sister Jane who has taken ill on a visit to the Bingleys. Here is a passage about how the snobbish Bingley sisters see Elizabeth.
When dinner was over she returned directly to Jane, and Miss Bingley began abusing her as soon as she was out of the room. Her manners were pronounced to be very bad indeed, a mixture of pride and impertinence; she had no conversation, no style, no taste, no beauty. Mrs. Hurst thought the same, and added —
“She has nothing, in short, to recommend her, but being an excellent walker. I shall never forget her appearance this morning. She really looked almost wild.”
“She did indeed, Louisa. I could hardly keep my countenance. Very nonsensical to come at all! Why must she be scampering about the country, because her sister had a cold? Her hair, so untidy, so blowsy!”
“Yes, and her petticoat; I hope you saw her petticoat, six inches deep in mud, I am absolutely certain; and the gown which had been let down to hide it, not doing its office.”
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I thought of that yesterday because I ended up six inches deep in mud on my walk and cared not for my appearance.
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I also identify with the fictional character Indiana Jones, specifically this quote:
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Making this up as I go, I asked a question last night about fictional characters on Twitter.
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Do you see any fictional characters in my other images for today?
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Here’s what I find when I search for “fictional characters” on YouTube:
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Thanks to all the fictional and non-fictional characters who help me create this daily blog, including YOU!
nancy drew because she was a rebel crime solver
I can see her in you, beth.
LOL! Beth, I remember being Nancy Drew. And Jane in the Tarzan stories. Girl of the Limberlost, Jane Eyre, Scarlett O’Hara, Scout Finch. And many more, including more than a few guys. I suspect that we add bits and pieces of others, including fictional characters, to ourselves while trying on ways of being in the process of becoming ourselves. Ourselves being unique, while also an amalgam of those we have loved.
Thanks for sharing those interesting characters.
Six inches of mud? OMG! I hope you did not get stuck in the mud!
I was stuck temporarily, Carol Anne, but I got out to blog another day!
If I had to pick a fictional character I’d say Orlando from Virginia Woolf’s novel. But I’m also mildly obsessed with a real person about whom almost nothing is known: a “little maid” who served in the Victorian household of Lady Anna Thynne. She hand-aerated the water that kept Thynne’s pet corals alive—a project which directly led to the London Aquarium. And yet we don’t even know her name.
Thanks for being such a great real person, Chris.
That looks like a lot more than 6 inches of mud up your leg!
You’re right, Debbie!