Roxane Gay, my most recent writer crush, has a very thought-provoking article in Buzzfeed about
unlikable characters, specifically unlikable women characters. That link is here, but this is the most
awesome defense of characters we love to hate by Claire Messud, from the Gay
essay:
In a Publisher’s Weekly interview with
Claire Messud about her recent novel The Woman Upstairs,
which features a rather “unlikable” protagonist named Nora who is bitter,
bereft, and downright angry about what her life has become, the interviewer
said, “I wouldn't want to be friends with Nora, would you? Her outlook is
almost unbearably grim.” And there we have it. A reader was here to make
friends with the characters in a book and she didn't like what she found.
Messud, for her part, had a sharp response for
her interviewer. “For heaven's sake, what kind of question is that? Would you
want to be friends with Humbert Humbert? Would you want to be friends with
Mickey Sabbath? Saleem Sinai? Hamlet? Krapp? Oedipus? Oscar Wao? Antigone?
Raskolnikov? Any of the characters in The Corrections? Any
of the characters in Infinite Jest? Any
of the characters in anything Pynchon has ever written? Or Martin Amis? Or
Orhan Pamuk? Or Alice Munro, for that matter? If you're reading to find
friends, you're in deep trouble. We read to find life, in all its
possibilities. The relevant question isn't ‘Is this a potential friend for me?’
but ‘Is this character alive?’”
Wow! Just wow! Isn't
that the truth? What would Charlotte's Web be without Templeton? Boring, that's what!
I often say that I have to love the characters to love a book. Like Messud's hapless interviewer, it's often because I want them to be good people. On my first reading of Emma, for example, I was horrified. Reading about Jane Austen's privileged young woman meddling in her neighbors' lives was terribly uncomfortable for me. I was embarrassed for her. As I have grown as a reader though, I have to come to realize that having to love a book's character/s is not so much about goodness, as it is about recognizing these people, and more importantly, recognizing myself in them.
My favorite books have characters that I believe in, that I can trust to behave authentically, whether or not I want to share a pie with them. Furthermore, my favorite characters have something to show me about myself. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's really unpleasant, but in the end I am always glad I made their acquaintance.
I often say that I have to love the characters to love a book. Like Messud's hapless interviewer, it's often because I want them to be good people. On my first reading of Emma, for example, I was horrified. Reading about Jane Austen's privileged young woman meddling in her neighbors' lives was terribly uncomfortable for me. I was embarrassed for her. As I have grown as a reader though, I have to come to realize that having to love a book's character/s is not so much about goodness, as it is about recognizing these people, and more importantly, recognizing myself in them.
My favorite books have characters that I believe in, that I can trust to behave authentically, whether or not I want to share a pie with them. Furthermore, my favorite characters have something to show me about myself. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's really unpleasant, but in the end I am always glad I made their acquaintance.
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