04.26.08
It’s what you feel, not what you ought to
[/gratuitous-yet-appropriate-if-you-squint Radiohead lyric]
I’ve been thinking lately about unlikable characters. Or, well, not really unlikable characters as such, more like characters doing things that make you uncomfortable, or angry.
An example. Suppose Joe Hero is at work, and some of his coworkers are saying very ugly things about another coworker who isn’t there. Joe knows and likes the person being ridiculed (though they are not close friends), but is afraid to stick up for the person. Not for any big important reason, but just because he’s afraid of being made a target himself. So he joins in the ridicule a bit, just to make himself seem part of the group.
Hardly an admirable reaction, but a very human one. But this one incident does not fully define him. It is only one part of Joe Hero the Person. Maybe he volunteers at Meals On Wheels, or plays banjo at the nursing home every Saturday. Does his weakness in not sticking up for his coworker cancel out all his good deeds? Does it make him unworthy of love, or unworthy of our attention as readers?
I know we all want to love our fictional heroes, but isn’t there such a thing as too perfect? In order for a character to ring true, don’t they need to be as human as the rest of us? Don’t they need bad habits and distasteful personality traits? For me, they do. And I’m not talking about nail-biting or chewing with your mouth open here. I’m talking about the very real flaws we all have, if we’re honest about it.
So. What are you willing to forgive in the name of realism? Or do you like your heroes, well, heroic rather than average? I don’t think there’s any right or wrong answer to that question, btw; I think different people are going to see the issue differently, which is what makes life vivid and beautiful rather than dull. I’m just wondering what others think, so please share!
tf said,
April 29, 2008 at 3:55 am
I more often see characters that are too flawed than too perfect. But then, I have unusual beliefs about flaws and principles.
Ally Blue said,
May 1, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I bet more people agree with you than you think
I’m not fond of either extreme. Probably because the vast majority of real people are neither outrageously evil OR ridiculously perfect. I’ve seen both sorts in fiction, and they never ring true for me.
tf said,
May 2, 2008 at 3:25 am
That’s nice to hear, Ally. I so often feel like the most atypical romance reader. While all the other romance readers bond and share books and have big discussions, I’m…well, I have such radical beliefs that I wouldn’t be able to really talk with them.
Returning to the topic of characters,
The characters that people think are too perfect, I tend to think they’re boring and therefore imperfect. Different perspective of the same kind of character, I guess.
Adele said,
June 9, 2008 at 7:57 am
Personally, I don’t really want characters to be like the people in my office or on the street but then that’s because I read to escape them. That’s not to say that I couldn’t forgive Joe Hero for acting the way he did as his behaviour was understandable. Sometimes characters get me so frustrated with the bad decisions they make that I actually want to scream at the book
but they usually realise they’ve been acting like a dick and make amends (gotta have the happy ending in my books 
I do like a good hero though. Really restores my faith in human kind, even if they are fictional (I take the good ones where I can get em!) Trouble is, once the book’s finished, it’s back to the people in the office and on the street
I don’t think there really is a right or wrong though as everyone is looking for something different in their characters and I think that’s a good thing.
A
Ally Blue said,
June 14, 2008 at 12:12 pm
That’s not to say that I couldn’t forgive Joe Hero for acting the way he did as his behaviour was understandable.
Here I think you’ve hit the nail on the head as far as whether or not a reader will forgive a hero’s bad behavior. I’m kind of the same when when reading. I do like a flawed hero, but it’s really hard for me to root for them if I don’t understand their motives. Even if the motive is one I don’t agree with, they have to have a reason for doing what they do or I just can’t get behind them. For example if I can see into Joe Hero’s head and know that he dissed his office buddy because he has a crippling fear of being a target of ridicule himself, or if he is so lacking in confidence that he acts in cowardly ways, I can see WHY he did it even if I want to slap him for having done it. If that makes any sense…