In my Elements of Style II class, we're learning all about opposites on the color wheel, how colors are made more vibrant by strong contrast. The same is true of characters. Maybe a really high-strung character makes everything his laid-back friend says sound like an understatement, or a really cautious person makes his adrenaline-junkie pal out to be insane. They can drive each other crazy -which is fun to watch. They can also balance each other out.
Charles Dickens loves balancing his characters this way. Bookish but naive Mr. Pickwick is balanced by his friendship with the streetwise but illiterate Sam Weller. Robert Louis Stevenson shows the cultural difference between the lowland and highland Scots of the time by pairing Alan Breck Stewart with Davie Balfour. A strong contrast shows who a character is by revealing who they aren't. Not a bad trick -in print or paint.
On a completely different subject, I am thinking about changing the name of my blog to `Lit Geek' since I haven't been rambling much about fairy-tales recently. What do you think?
I like contrating characters. People who are very much alike aren't as intersting. In real life, folks who are very similar often don't get along because they're too much alike. Having friends who are very different can be astruggle, but it's interesting. In fiction, where the author has some say in matters, things can work out quite well. Even when characters seem to take control, I find I usually have more influence on outcomes than I do in real life. {Smile}
ReplyDeleteChoose the blog title you like. I tried to choose a nice, general one I wouldn't have to fuss with much. {Smile, wink}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
I think one thing with wildly different characters is if they have a common interest, it can tie them together despite their different personalities, but I know people who are very different often compliment each other, rather like puzzle pieces fitting together. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, a common interest does a lot to bring people together, no matter how different they are otherwise. {Smile}
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of people as puzzle pieces that fit together. {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
So do I. :) Sometimes people admire the aspect they don't have in another person, too, and that helps draw them together. My dad is a very joking kind of person and my mom loves the way he makes her laugh, but she doesn't really tell jokes herself. If she did, she might not need his sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteThat is neat. It sounds like your parents do compliment each other with their humor. {Smile}
ReplyDeleteMine... well, Mom is definitely the best problem solver in the family. Take a problem to her, and she'll try to "fix" it, whether it's the kind of problem that can be fixed or not. Dad's not as good with problems, but he's a lot better at reflecting and responding to feelings I'm trying to wrok thru. I think that's because he doesn't try to "solve the problem" when I'm upset; he just tries to sympathize and assure me he understands. {Smile}
I didn't think of that as complimentary until I caught myself choosing which parent to take which problem to by how I wanted them to respond. {SMILE, wink}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
That's really cool the way you can go to each parent for different needs.
ReplyDeleteMy dad is the worrier, even though he's so laid back, while my mom is the practical one. Mom's usually the person I confide in but she's also the one who's most likely to say `Grace, your problem is that you're over-tired. Now quit worrying and go to bed.' It's oddly comforting.