Real Books, Real People
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 09:35AM No quotes for me, the characters in my favorite books are "real" real to me! I love this meme; it was fun, thanks, Kim!
Name three characters (from books)...
1). You wish were real so you could meet them.
The Bishop from Les Miserables:
It seemed as if it were a sort of rite with him, to prepare himself for sleep by meditating in presence of the great spectacle of the starry firmament. Sometimes at a late hour of the night, if the two women were awake, they would hear him slowly promenading the walks. He was there alone with himself, collected, tranquil, adoring, comparing the serenity of his heart with the serenity of the skies, moved in the darkness by the visible splendors of the constellations, and the invisible splendor of God, opening his soul to the thoughts which fall from the Unknown. pg. 61
What was more needed by this old man who divided the leisure hours of his life, where he had so little leisure, between gardening in the daytime and contemplation at night? Was not this narrow enclosure, with the sky for a background, enought to enable him to adore God in His most beautiful as well as in His most sublime works? Indeed, is not that all, and what more can be desired? A little garden to walk, and immensity to reflect opon. At his feet something to cultivate and gather; above his head something to study and meditate upon; a few flowers on the earth and all the stars in the sky. pg. 62
Johnny Wainwright from A Prayer for Owen Meany. Johnny Wainwright is as haunting a character to me as Owen Meany is to most who have read this book. The great themes of this quirky but unforgettable book include Providence, the Sovereignty of God, Sacrifice and Redemption, among others. Johnny didn't get it. I'd love to share the gospel with him.
Mr. Bliss from Tolkien's Children's Tale, Mr. Bliss. Oh, I love children's tales and this is one of my favorites! Written and illustrated by J.R.R. Tolkien for the amusment of himself and his children, this book is hysterically funny. I'm sure if I met Mr. Bliss I would have some rousing adventures. I just hope I wouldn't be "too bruised" by them all!
2). You would like to be.
Faithful from Pilgrim's Progress. The name sort of says it all.
Jean Valjean from Les Miserables. Oh, to live through what he lived through and to die in full faith!
We must forgive them. . .Such are the distributions of God. He is on high, He sees us all, and He knows what He does in the midst of the stars. . .I die happy.
I'm not sure I would've thought of it on my own, but I do like Lucy from The Chronicles of Narnia (thanks, Kim!)
3). Who scare you.
Right now the scariest would be Morgoth from The Children of Hurin. His curse against the Children of Hurin is so full of malice and rage and heartlessness that I found myself wincing as I read.
Next would probably be Javert, from Les Miserables. He's probably the scariest of all. To be so unyielding, to be so pitiless, to be so unapproachable:
~Now, if we admit for a moment that there is in every man some one of the species of the animal creation, it will be easy for us to describe the guardian of the peace, Javert.
The peasants of the Astrurias believe that in every litter of wolves there is a dog, which is killed by the mother, lest on growing up it should devour the other little ones.
Give a human face to this dog son of a wolf, and you will have Javert.
~This man was a compound of two sentiments very simple and very good in themselves, but he almost made them evil by his exaggeration of them, respect for authority and hatred of rebellion; and in his eyes, theft, murder, all crimes, were only forms of rebellion. . .He was stoical, serious, austere: a dreamer of stern dreams, humble and haughty, like all fanatics. His stare was cold and as piercing as a gimlet. His whole life was contained in these two words: waiting and watching.
Last, Stromboli, from Pinnochio. I loved the story of Pinnochio as a child but I was very frightened of Stromboli, the puppeteer. He, too, was without pity.
As I think about it, there is a common theme of the ones who scare me--lack of pity.
I'm tagging Ellen, Leslie, and Allyson
Kim from Hiraeth
So check it out: As always, Allyson's answers are drawn from her status as well-read and thoughtful. Check out her scary people. Ellen's answers are thoughtful as well, but I do disagree with her about Snape.
Leslie is another Tolkien fan who would love for Treebeard to be real. She, like me, doesn't like spiders.
Reader Comments (6)
Ack! This is going to be hard to do, but I'll give it a go.
ooooo...I got tagged. I'm going to the drawing board to work on this. thanks Kim
Oh good one! Faithful from Pilgrim's Progress! Love this tag game!
From a fellow tagged blogger!
Let me guess: one of your favorite novels is Les Miserables? :-)
Guess what? I think Snape is good too. Can't wait til July 21!
Oh yeah, I forgot to add that the story of Pinnochio terrified me as a girl!
Oh, I love Les Mis! If I could twist everyone's arm I would make them read Les Mis!