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Post by Remora/Juliet on Jun 1, 2009 12:01:35 GMT -5
I was just on Yahoo!Answers and saw a question similar to this, and I figured it could be fun to discuss with y'all. (Partly because I'm supposed to be doing something productive and I'd rather ask you guys random questions and read your responses and stuff.)
Questions:
So, what characters do you see yourselves in? How do you see yourself in them? Do you like this/these character(s)?
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Post by kopachris on Jun 1, 2009 15:54:59 GMT -5
Surprisingly enough, I've actually thought a lot about this topic. Since I don't want to say anything embarrassing that I'll later regret, though, I just won't say anything.
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Post by Remora/Juliet on Jun 1, 2009 17:27:14 GMT -5
That's exactly why I didn't post anything yet... ;D But I guess I will since I still don't have anything better to do. So, what characters do you see yourselves in? Several, but I'd have to say that the ones I see myself in the most would be Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter series and Sydney Carton of A Tale of Two Cities. How do you see yourself in them?Well, in Hermione, I'm sure you guys already know this--at least the ones who know me in real life--but I'm a total bookworm and teacher's pet. I always have to have the right answer and if I don't, I'm pretty much upset the rest of the day. And I think Ron's adorable I did not just say that. Back to being serious, I think my explanation for why I see myself in Sydney is a lot more embarrassing than for Hermione (even with the Ron thing). When we first see him in the book, he's staring at the ceiling and looks like a total mess. (Which pretty much describes me in my pre-calculus class last year.) He is the reason the man on trial gets off (he's a lawyer, just not a very dedicated one) and he also makes sure Lucie Manette is all right after he sees her start to faint earlier in the trial. (Later denying to his best friend--Mr. Stryver--that this has nothing to do with any particular feelings for the woman. Something I'm very guilty of, myself, although the person in question wasn't fainting in my situation.) After the trial, he is completely insolent and sarcastic toward pretty much everyone (guilty as charged) and even goes as far as to dislike the man because Charles Darnay is what he himself could have been, if he had tried harder in life. He even admits that he often did other students' homework for them while he was in school and barely even bothered with his own. (By this point, I was starting to get more than a little creeped out.) His friend uses him in trials to keep himself afloat, by paying Sydney to do the work for him. (Wow, sounds like pretty much every group project I've ever had to do in school, except without the paying part.) And he doesn't really get credit for it either. (Sixth grade memories...Oh how wonderful.) He's got self-esteem issues, and has some serious problems with wasting talents and feelings. (Things my own family remind me of pretty much constantly.) His hair's a mess and he always has his hands crammed in his pockets and seems to be lost in a daydream of some sort. (Except for the fact that my hair is up in a ponytail unlike his, spot on.) But then, something happens that starts to change him from his callous ways and misery...by making him even more miserable. Lucie! Because, of course, he falls in love with her! (Isn't it ironic that a thing as beautiful as love makes miserable people more miserable? I can attest to it though. I've become a better person in the past year and 18 days, though I can agree that it has made me, at the very least, slightly more unhappy.) But out of it comes one huge major difference: he's got the guts to TELL HER. Like heck if I could ever be that bold...Then again, if this guy was more like Lucie, it wouldn't be as hard. She's understanding enough to feel terrible for all the pain she's caused him and hopes that he never has to follow through with his promise. ("...there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you." ) The second I read the chapter with that line in it, I thought, "THE DREAM!" because indeed, I had a dream of a similar situation in which I had to do the same...And of course, Lucie chooses the romantic hero, none other than Sydney's doppleganger Charles Darnay. But Sydney still hangs around from time to time, and even their daughter loves him. (If my life follows in a pattern like this, at least that's some reassurance. :/) But there does come a time, when Charles--always the noble man, I'm afraid--goes to Paris to rescue an old family friend...Well, servant, actually. And of course, it's the French Revolution now, and since he was an aristocrat, he ends up locked up and condemned to die by guillotine. (Long story short, he gets off, thanks to the help of his father in law, then gets rearrested a few pages later.) But then, there's another knock at the door! And who can it be but everyone's favorite not-quite-so-lovable-as-the-other-guy anti-hero, Sydney Carton! And he's got a plan to save the day! But because he's so cryptic and stuff, he explains it so that no one else really knows what his plan even is. (Don't you just love talking in metaphors? I know I do. (And I'm not even being sarcastic this time!)) So he spends the rest of the night thinking about what he has to do and from that point on, he's no longer a lowlife scoundrel...He's a hero. The next morning, when Darnay loses the trail (of course), he waits until right before the poor man would've been thrown in a tumbril and taken to Madame la Guillotine to rescue him. (And only after kissing Lucie on the cheek and whispering to her, "A life you love." (Book: 1 Me: 0. Freakin' heck, I was sobbing my eyes out during driver's ed while I was reading this book!)) They switch clothes and he gives Darnay one of the chemicals to make him less ill (Drafty prison, ain't it?) and takes the other to make himself seem ill. So the Darnay family and everyone gets off fine, but Sydney's stuck in prison, condemned to being beheaded. He meets a seamstress, who says he's brave to die in the place of another and asks if she can hold his hand for courage. (Book: 2, me: 0. Dang it! I'm losing it! No!) And then, they both die. But Sydney doesn't die before thinking this: "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known." (Book: 500,000,000 Me: 0) And that's when I put my head down on my desk and cried until halfway through the lunch break (about twenty minutes later) and then pulled out my old notebook to read about THE DREAM! mentioned above. Pretty much my last words in said dream were like a combination of Sydney's and Eponine's. I'm such an unloved third wheel. :/ XD O.o
Do you like this/these character(s)?Yes, I do. They're two of my favorite characters of all time. EDIT: And Sydney's conversations with Mr. Stryver are like the conversations Scarlet and I used to have when she still lived here...
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Post by scarletshadow on Jun 1, 2009 20:50:29 GMT -5
OMg you DID NOT just say that! (I'm very capslock happy today for some strange reason. It might be due to the fact I haven't been dropped in BRD today.)
I'd have to say Holly Short (Artemis Fowl) and Brady Goldsmith (Four Things My Geeky-Jock-of-a- Best Friend Must Do In Europe).
Why you ask? Well, I can totally kick some butt (like Holly), and seem to always think of a reason not to be in a relationship with someone I really like (*cough* Holly, her and Arty really need to get together already). Plus, I feel like I am a geeky jock like Brady. Only, I'm not really as *developed* as she is. In the words of Happy Bunny (and Brady, since I am quoting her) Zip it Morey!!!!!
Of course I like them! They are ze best! (Like me! JK!)
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Post by Remora/Juliet on Jun 18, 2009 12:30:25 GMT -5
Only, I'm not really as *developed* as she is. In the words of Happy Bunny (and Brady, since I am quoting her) Zip it Morey!!!!! Scarlet, it doesn't matter...I mean, come on, you've got at least 10 guys who adore you and want to go out with you...And I've got Rory, Trevor and Tavish--the creepy stalkers. IT DOESN'T MATTER! Hmm...Does that mean I'm like Bella Swan, because creepy guys that all the girls think are hot want to date me? Ack, no! That's just totally not right! I am nothing like Bella Swan, dang it! *beats brain for even suggesting that I'm like her* I am not a spineless, whiny brat. I am not a necrophiliac. I am not a gold digger. I am not an emo, self-centered, delusional Barbie doll. Okay, I feel better now.
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Post by scarletshadow on Jun 18, 2009 16:59:17 GMT -5
Aw come on. It could be worse than Bella.
You could be Juliet. ^.^ Pretty much a blank, dull, emotionless, one thought at a time character who can only focus on one thing at a time (Romeo if you haven't caught on to that yet).
Seriously, why do we even have to read that play in school? Why can't we just read Othello instead? It pretty much is the exact same thing as RaJ, except with a way cooler ending!
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Post by Remora/Juliet on Jun 18, 2009 17:44:12 GMT -5
And a character named Desdemona. I think Juliet and Bella are equally bad...But at least I've never been compared to Juliet before...(And I mean by someone other than me in that post...)
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Post by scarletshadow on Jun 18, 2009 17:52:26 GMT -5
Bella is better than Juliet in my opinion. At least she has some intelligence, a life, and a truck! And of course, if you have a truck you automatically have a certain level of awesomeness.
Desdemona totally makes that book! Except for Othello of course, as he is the main character. Who cares about him anyway?
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Post by Remora/Juliet on Jun 18, 2009 17:54:47 GMT -5
Bella totally has no life outside of Edward. But yeah, having a truck definitely qualifies as <Juliet, so... XD
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Post by scarletshadow on Jun 18, 2009 17:58:56 GMT -5
But of course Desdemona trumps both of them any day.
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Post by Remora/Juliet on Jun 18, 2009 18:02:52 GMT -5
Undoubtedly. Desdemona pwns everybody. I'm so glad we're going to be covering Othello in AP lit! Actually, we're also covering pretty much everything else Shakespeare wrote, too. It will be truly epic.
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Post by scarletshadow on Jun 18, 2009 18:07:38 GMT -5
I don't know what we will be covering. Sometimes, I really don't want to know in advance. That way I won't want to run to my room and hide under my pillow (which is black satin, so it actually is quite comfortable).
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Post by Remora/Juliet on Jun 18, 2009 18:09:07 GMT -5
Lucky...My pillows are old and not so soft. But not everything we're studying will be fun. Like Wuthering Heights and The Scarlet Letter.
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Post by scarletshadow on Jun 18, 2009 18:23:33 GMT -5
Are they on a Nathanial Hawthorne streak or something? Ah ha! My dad accidentially set off the security system! XD
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Post by Remora/Juliet on Jun 18, 2009 18:28:17 GMT -5
Lol about your dad. Fail! ^^
And I don't know if it's just because of Nathanial Hawthorn. I think it's more of "Oh my gosh, symbolism and old American lit! Let's read it!"
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