Fictional Characters are not so fictional!

 

“Do you know which fictional character you resemble?”, my friend asked me the other day. For a moment, I couldn’t register what she had said. Looking at my confused facial expressions, she chuckled and replied herself: “Scarlet O’Hara from Gone with the w Wind.”

 It was both amusing and irritating for me at the same time. Gone with the Wind has been my most favourite novel and Scarlet’s character has always attracted me in a strange, inexplicable way. But I had never thought that somebody would think of me as her in certain respect. All I could say was “really, do I?”

The above-mentioned encounter made me think about all the fictional characters I have had the privilege to acquaint myself with. And it startled me to find that each one of them had something in them I could relate with.

Also, the people I came across in my daily life seemed to carry some of the traits of all those characters. It is a fact that some characters are too good to be true, such as that of Atticus Finch in To k Kill a Mockingbird or Colonel Brandon in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. We hardly encounter such people in real life for the extent of nobility in them.

What I found truly amazing was that we can associate ourselves more with the characters that have a tinge of negativity in them. Upon research, it dawned on me that such characters are full of moral nuances. For instance,  Rhett Butler from Gone with the  Wind is undoubtedly one of the most unique characters of all times. He seems to be an opportunist who is famous for his dishonorable behaviour but, on the other hand, one cannot help falling in love with his keenness on cutting down people’s egos.

There is another remarkable character in the history of novel that compels one peep into his own soul. Yes, I am talking about Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment. We, as readers, are struck by the intricacies of his psyche and can’t hold ourselves back from empathizing with his character.

There is an interesting trend making the rounds these days on the internet. Some of the websites ask you to take an online test. The test is consisted of a few questions about the popular characters and they tell you which one you resemble the most. Based upon the result, they suggest the next book you should read. So, it is a good way to find which character you bear a resemblance with.

Whilst we all have our unique characters, we all identify with those in fiction, one way or the other because, after all, they are us and we are them.

 As Maren Elwood rightly puts it, “Fictional characters exist in only two places, neither of which is on the printed page. They exist, first, in the mind of the writer, and second, in the mind of the reader.” So, think for a minute and tell which fictional character do you think lives within you?