lady_schrapnell | (no subject)

Still mentally hopping around over the conversation with Wendy of Blog from the Windowsill, and it got me thinking about those great not-so-likable-but-you-still-love-them characters (especially female ones), and wondering if Mary of The Secret Garden is the first in children's lit or if I'm missing someone obvious. She'd a grown-up counterpart in Emma, of course, but can't think of any other children earlier. I'm not talking about horrible kid who gets slapped around by life, and learns lessons aplenty, becoming saintly (despite the sarcastic tone, I do love What Katy Did in all its sappy goodness - surely one of the quintessential Slap 'em up and Make Them Good books). And I'm also not talking about Underdog who's got to be forgiven for being a bit dim at times because of the Underdoggery...

Mary learns, and gets less selfish, of course, but she doesn't become a little princess, either, does she? And in not doing so, did she do anything pave the way for favourite not very nice girls like Harriet the Spy? (Okay, nobody is quite like Harriet!)

Started thinking about this because of Christina in the Flambards books, and her possible likeness to Mary (even if I'm the sole believer in this theory), and then I came up with Dicey, in Cynthia Voigt's Tillerman books. She's a wonderful character - tough and prickly and driven and has to be all those things to survive and take care of her family - and then comes Seventeen Against the Dealer and it's just so horribly painful as a reader to see all the less-than-nice aspects of her character take over and cause so much pain to the people she (and we) really care about. But not at all out of character.

Rose, of Permanent Rose fame... Just thought of her.

Melting down with exhaustion, but if anyone would like to contribute characters while I try to sleep - feel free.

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Mmm. Wondering about Alice? (The wonderland one, of course, not the junkie.)

I don't think of Alice as being that un-nice, though it's been a long time since I've read her, admittedly. Is she?

Well, not un-nice, exactly; but not exactly nice, either! She generally has good manners, and she's certainly nicer than the people she meets, I guess; but I don't remember her doing anything generous or kind to or for anyone. And although she's very curious, I don't think she's sympathetic. But it's been a while for me, too!

Yeah, I'm ruling Alice right out! I've reread up to the tea party now, and she'd have to be sickly-saintly in order not to get cross as she has sometimes. And wants to be nice to the puppy - what more proof of nice do you want? We're looking for characters a lot non-nicer than just not-entirely-ready-for-sainthood. (Elegant sentence, eh?)