The 'In Character' Blog
 
 
January 31, 2008

Your Turn: Carrie Meeber

From Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
Nominated by Natalie Pappas

Nothing is certain, but I'm about 99.9% sure that Theodore Dreiser didn't create Sister Carrie as a heroine. In the book of the same name, Carrie moves to the big city of Chicago, cohabits with a traveling salesman, runs away with the embezzling manager of a bar, and becomes a chorus girl. She ends up "amid the tinsel and shine" of Broadway, basking in fame but still searching for something, dreaming about "happiness [that she] may never feel."

Continue reading "Your Turn: Carrie Meeber" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Billy Pilgrim

From Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
Nominated by Brock Spore

Billy Pilgrim was a quiet and helplessly comic person who maintained his sanity while the world around him experienced wave after wave of madness.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Billy Pilgrim" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Ennis Del Mar

From Brokeback Mountain by E. Annie Proulx
Movie directed by Ang Lee
Nominated by Truman Adkins

In this classic tragedy, Ennis Del Mar represents the classic American icon, the Cowboy (or in his precise case a sheepherder) who deals with the effects of rural homophobia as best he can. Having been indoctrinated from age 9 that his attraction could get him killed, he struggles in vain to pursue happiness in his life, and sublimate his nature in order to keep safe. The price he pays for this: loneliness and abandonment.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Ennis Del Mar" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 30, 2008

Your Turn: Jenny Fields

From The World According To Garp by John Irving
Movie directed by George Roy Hill
Nominated by Eric Orner

I wrestled with my sexuality throughout college during in the 1980s. As a Jew, I worried about the moral repercussions of my gay orientation---about not doing everything I could to procreate. And, as an American I worried about the material consequences of coming out. Would I be denied happiness? Jobs? Physical security? When I read Irving's book, my eyes were opened wide by his depiction of a character who was uncompromising in her attitude towards sex and sexuality.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Jenny Fields" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: George Jefferson

From The Jeffersons, created by Don Nichol and Michael Ross
Nominated by Jeffrey Alexander Brathwaite

Considering your question on influential American fictional characters, I think of George Jefferson, of the TV show, The Jeffersons.

As a young Black boy growing up during the 70s in South Bronx, I didn't have many role models. But in George Jefferson I witnessed weekly the fortitude and drive of a successful Black businessman.

Continue reading "Your Turn: George Jefferson" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Lisa Simpson

From The Simpsons cartoon, created by Matt Groening
Nominated by Katherine Duke

Lisa Simpson is the epitome of the gifted kid, almost too smart and too "good" for her own good. She's converted to vegetarianism, taken on corrupt politicians and polluters, and invented a perpetual-motion machine, all while acing the second grade some 20 years in a row.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Lisa Simpson" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Dr. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce

From MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker
Movie directed by Robert Altman
M*A*S*H television series created by H. Richard Hornberger
Nominated by Maureen Cruz

Brilliant and irreverent, Dr. Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce was the voice of a generation at war -- a generation and a war I was too young to understand when I was introduced to M*A*S*H at the age of about 10.

A womanizing, insufferably arrogant, borderline alcoholic, Hawkeye was a sight to behold. He had no patience for bureaucracy, no respect for authority and no capacity for commitment to any one woman. He was the Army's (and every father's) worst nightmare.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Dr. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Christy Huddleston

From Christy by Catherine Marshall
Nominated by Rebecca Briley

Growing up in a literary family, I read everything I could find, drawn especially to female characters who were teachers: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Anne of Green Gables, Jane Eyre--the list is long. But the deepest impression was made by Catherine Marshall's Christy, a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in the Smokey Mountains at the turn of the century. Overcoming squeamish distaste for native customs with unadulterated love for Fairlight Spencer and Little Burl, Christy Huddleston, c'est moi.

I longed to teach in a one-room schoolhouse, nourishing some impoverished Appalachian child with the love of reading. Never having that opportunity, I have managed to teach elsewhere: Kentucky, Europe, the Marshall Islands, and finally even Turkish students in North Cyprus. My students always remark they have never had a teacher like me: one who loves her subject and students so equally and overtly. I have Christy to thank for that. As they say, if you can read this, thank a teacher. I do--all of them who taught me to love literature and to share that love with others.

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 29, 2008

Your Turn: Nancy Drew

From the Nancy Drew mystery series, created by Edward Stratemeyer
Nominated by Kelli Donley

My mom gave me her childhood collection of Nancy Drew novels when I was in elementary school. I inhaled them -- all 40 mystery stories about the girl who could solve crime, and do so with great fashion and manners.

Nancy had a boyfriend and a father who she relied on only in direst of cases. Instead, she taught young girls that they could be successful, smart, individualistic -- and drive a fun convertible.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Nancy Drew" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Owen Meany

From A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
Nominated by Lydia Casman

Matthew Detmer as Owen Meany

On faith: Owen Meany (Matthew Detmer in a 2006 stage adaptation at Maryland's Round House Theatre) unites reason and belief.

Stan Barouh/Round House Theatre

Today, the world seems to have deemed faith and rationality incompatible. Perhaps the world has not met Owen Meany.

Owen is the son of a New Hampshire granite quarrier in John Irving's novel A Prayer for Owen Meany. He is abnormally small for his age, has an indescribable yet unforgettable voice, and firmly believes he is God's instrument.

Yet Owen is not a fool. He is the top of his class at a prestigious high school and understands the world in ways his peers do not. He is an avid critic of everything from school policy to American policy and the Vietnam War. Owen is intelligent, yet he maintains the belief that God has a special plan for him. And God does.

Owen Meany showed me that one can be a rational human being and at the same time have faith that there is a bigger force at work in our lives.

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Marjorie "Maude" Chardin

From Harold and Maude, directed by Hal Ashby
Nominated by Jane Bratton

When I grow up, I want to be like Maude.

I was a teenager the first time I saw Harold and Maude. I understood the moviegoers who were turned off by the main plot -- which finds the 79-year-old Maude engaged in a romantic relationship with 20-year-old Harold.

Years later, however, I've come to not only appreciate Maude's propensity for mischief and merriment, but her views on life as well. "Play as well as you can," she reminds us.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Marjorie "Maude" Chardin" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Tommy Pickles

From Rugrats, created by Gabor Csupo, Paul Germain, and
Arlene Klasky
Nominated by Billy Skrobacz

Bravery, courtesy, and honor are all traits of a hero. Tommy Pickles, from the Nickelodeon series Rugrats, embodies all of these values.

Scoring touchdowns with chocolate-milk bottles, dealing with bullies, and trying to follow in the footsteps of Reptar, Tommy Pickles should be recognized as one of the most important people in television.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Tommy Pickles" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 28, 2008

The 'In Character' Blog on the Radio

Did y'all hear it? Did you drive off the road?

Tonight, after Karen Grigsby Bates' Scarlett O'Hara piece on All Things Considered, we made good on a promise we made when we launched this blog: that some of your essays could wind up on the radio.

ATC host Robert Siegel read a (slightly shortened) version of Mike McCabe's Jack Bauer essay on the air. If you missed it, you can listen online: There's a cut in the middle, but you can click here, then click here to cue up the two segments back-to-back in our new Flash player.

Mr. McCabe, consider yourself introduced to nearly 12 million new friends. The rest of you, consider yourself invited to join the competition for the next on-air spot.

-- Trey Graham

comments () | | e-mail

 

Coming to Grips with Scarlett Fever

Mammy (Hattie McDaniel) laces up the stays of Scarlett O'Hara's (Vivien Leigh's) corset

Labor action: Mammy (Hattie McDaniel, right, with Vivien Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara) may be devoted to her "lamb," but other accounts of slave life paint a less cozy picture.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images
 

Growing up, there was plenty to read on the shelves in our house. In addition to James Baldwin, Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks, there were Jane Austen, Truman Capote and Louisa May Alcott -- but there was no Gone With The Wind. My mother was raised in segregated Charlotte, N.C., and she had short patience with romantic notions about a Southern glory that had been built on the backs of slave labor. Some of them had been our ancestors.

I stumbled across Scarlett on my own at almost 16 -- the same age Scarlett is when the book opens. In the years since, I've encountered several black women who share my fondness for Margaret Mitchell's vain, willful and, let's face it, emotionally clueless heroine. Like me, they think Scarlett Fever is a complicated business.

"I love the little hussy," writer Terry McMillan e-mailed me as she was frantically trying to finish her about-to-be-published novel. "But you know, for u there is a whole lot of mess attached to that girl! Good luck trying to explain it!"

I don't know that anyone could explain it in the approximately 6 minutes I was allowed on-air, but I guess for me, the bottom line is this: GWTW remains an engaging piece of fiction. And fiction is supposed to allow you to see the point of view of The Other.

Margaret Mitchell did a good job describing the life of Southern gentry. But her black people are largely two-dimensional. It was the great Hattie McDaniel, in the movie, who finally brought Mammy to life.

If you're curious about what Prissy, Mammy and Pork really thought about life at Tara, find yourself a copy of Margaret Walker's Jubilee. Written in 1966, almost exactly 100 years after the Civil War ended, it's the story of Walker's great-grandmother Vyry. Jubilee is an unblinking look at plantation life from the point of view of those who did the work, and it's well worth the search.

--Karen Grigsby Bates

Editor's note: Before we told you Karen's essay was in the works, many of you nominated Scarlett as an In Character essential. We posted Sabrina Stevens' essay on the blog earlier, and there's more Scarlett conversation in the comments there.

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Wonder Woman

From the Wonder Woman comic books, created by William Moulton Marston
Nominated by Rosalie Rippey

The stars in my eyes were the reflection from Linda Carter's dance pants.

As a little girl of the 1970s, I aspired to be Wonder Woman. With bullet-deflecting bracelets and a golden lasso of truth she fought crime, defused bombs, and rescued imperiled civilians. With a graceful spin, she transformed from a prim secretary in glasses and tight bun into an Amazon queen, champion of humanity.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Wonder Woman" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Shane

From Shane by Jack Shaefer, movie directed by George Stevens
Nominated by James Deutsch

Shane appears in the West from the mountains of the gods. He has no family, no past, no last name. Self-reliant and independent, he is clad in buckskin, having only a horse and gun.

Shane enters a deadly conflict pitting the Holy Family (Joe/Joseph, Marian/Mary, and their son Joey/Jesus) against the evil Rykers (i.e., Third Reichers or Nazis). In the end, after defeating the Nazis and their sadistic black-clad S.S. antagonist (Jack Wilson), Shane returns to the mountains from whence he came--alone.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Shane" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 25, 2008

Changing the Lens

One of the goals of this series is to occasionally look at characters from an unexpected angle. Thomas Siegman's essay on Gilligan is a wonderful example. Love his "inner Gilligan" theory!

Another example will air this Monday on All Things Considered. NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates examines Margaret Mitchell's feisty heroine Scarlett O'Hara from various African-American perspectives.

I don't want to give away too much, so let's just say that Karen's conditional love for Scarlett is eye-opening. Karen will be our guest blogger on Monday. I know that Scarlett has already inspired some conversation on the blog -- so fan or foe, I hope you'll weigh in on Monday, when Karen has her say about the sassy southern belle.

-- Elizabeth Blair

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Eloise

From the Eloise books by Kay Thompson
Nominated by Elaine Wrubel

The indomitable spirit of Eloise is as relevant and recognizable today as it was in 1955 when first published. Reading about her when I was a young girl in the Midwest made me yearn to see The Plaza up close, to experience the same rooms and staff that she knew so well.

Eloise was charming, bold, endearing and oh so lucky! She had no restrictive parents and had so much time to explore that grand hotel. I loved her rambling thoughts, her freedom to explore, and her companionship with Nanny.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Eloise" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Gilligan

From Gilligan's Island, created by Sherwood Schwartz
Nominated by Thomas Siegman

Bob Denver as Gilligan

Sorry, Skipper: Was Gilligan (Bob Denver) the devil in disguise?

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Poor castaways. Each week they would devise a way off the island. Each week Gilligan would thwart their escape — usually with the best of intentions.

Years after the show ended, its creator, Sherwood Schwartz, admitted that each of the characters represented one of the seven deadly sins — Pride (the Professor), Anger (Skipper), Lust, (Ginger), and the rest. Gilligan was supposed to be Sloth.

But a closer viewing indicates that the island may well have been Hell -- and the red-clad Gilligan the devil who kept them on his island.

The greatest part of the metaphor, though, is that if the others ever wanted to get off the island, what they needed to do was kill Gilligan -- and that each of us has our own inner Gilligan, that sweet-natured, well-meaning part of us that always sabotages us from getting what we really want.

Maybe if we truly want to succeed in life, we need to kill our own inner Gilligan.

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 24, 2008

Your Turn: Lt. Columbo

From the Columbo TV series, created by Richard Levinson and William Link
Nominated by Audrey Glickman

Columbo broke with tradition, showing the crime first, then expecting us to watch for another hour to see the detective's thought processes as he psyched out the criminals. Columbo showed an individualist, intelligent and humble, being himself regardless of the establishment.

Awkward yet smooth, he reveled in his dishevelment, using it to advantage. With an eclectic car, one suit, beloved wife, dog, and no gun, Columbo on the job was in control, an eye on the suspect and a clear goal.

Three-dimensional characters are collaborations between writers and actors. I suspect Peter Falk, a consummate actor, is as fond of Columbo as we are.

Columbo is highly intelligent, lovable, moral but nonjudgmental, and expert at what he loves. He was portrayed by a brilliant actor with wit, humor, and a deep knowledge of a character he apparently enjoyed.

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Leia Organa

From the Star Wars films, created by George Lucas
Nominated by Amy Hale-Janeke

I first encountered Princess Leia Organa when I was five years old and sitting in the front row of a theater watching Star Wars. Leia was everything that I wanted to be when I grew up: a smart (and smart-mouthed) leader who refused to be condescended to even by someone as good-looking as Han Solo. She didn't have kids. Instead, she had a career and a cause.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Leia Organa" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Scrooge McDuck

Originally appeared in Donald Duck Four Color Comics #178, created by Carl Barks
Nominated by Dana Gabbard

Scrooge McDuck is a most unlikely pop-culture icon. Unlike most media stars, he's elderly. His personality is also rather prickly. The ultimate self-made man, he exults in his wealth and has little interest in conventional enjoyments.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Scrooge McDuck" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 23, 2008

Your Turn: Ignatius J. Reilly

From A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Nominated by Craig Tower

We don't advertise that our son is named after Ignatius J. Reilly. Even for those who have read A Confederacy of Dunces, Ignatius is far from heroic. He's a reactionary neo-Luddite; an onanistic mama's boy, a failed academic and a relentless highbrow critic of pop culture, which he consumes with as much lowbrow abandon as he devours donuts and soda. But he's also erratically brilliant, generally tolerant and wholly iconic of his natal New Orleans.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Ignatius J. Reilly" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 18, 2008

Meet the Other Intern: Justin Hienz

Readers and listeners: I'm Justin Hienz, an intern at NPR. Every day, I see nominations and comments you submit, and I've been excited to remember with you all those fictional personalities that influence our lives. In reminiscing, I feel compelled to suggest another.

Darth Vader (a.k.a. Anakin Skywalker)
From the Star Wars films, created by George Lucas

Vader mask - close up

Dark victory: Intern Justin Hienz (who's finishing up a religious- studies degree, so we worry) says Darth Vader thrills us because we secretly long to be bad.

LucasFilm/Twentieth Century Fox

Of characters from American fiction, few have elicited as enduring a fascination as Darth Vader. The stiff black suit, the mysterious, ominous mask, the deep, commanding voice, the red lightsaber — he is the personification of evil and anguish, and we love him for it.

He kills subordinate Imperial officers on a whim, and we cheer. He threatens destruction, and we silently hope to see it done. At every stage, we both fear and hope for his success.

In Episodes 1-3, Vader became a more complex character for viewers. We gained a greater understanding of how a promising Jedi could fall so far from the light. And yet, watching Anakin Skywalker start down the path to becoming Darth Vader by killing a village of Sand People, I still feel a satisfying rush. They did kill his mother, after all. It was retribution — justified evil; in the words of the aspiring emperor Senator Palpatine (a.k.a., Darth Sidious), I always think to myself when watching, "Do it! Kill them!" Am I a bad person because part of me wants to see Vader thrive on the Dark Side of the Force? I think not.

Continue reading "Meet the Other Intern: Justin Hienz" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Susie Salmon

From The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Nominated by Caleigh Tansey

The liveliness of a character from a novel can grasp you in the most profound ways and leave you with a good feeling about the piece you have just read. So, what about those characters that are not so alive?

Susie Salmon of The Lovely Bones is a 14-year old girl who watches her family, friends, and murderer from her heaven above. She not only has to watch her family struggle without her, but think of what she would be doing if she were alive at that very moment.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Susie Salmon" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 17, 2008

Your Turn: Idgie Threadgoode

From Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg
Fried Green Tomatoes directed by Jon Avnet
Nominated by Tyisha Turner

Idgie Threadgoode is one of the main characters in this film based on the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. Idgie is a fierce, free-spirited, resourceful young woman. She proves herself a true heroine as she overcomes death, violence, racism, and sexism throughout her life.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Idgie Threadgoode" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: John Bender

From The Breakfast Club, written and directed by John Hughes
Nominated by Morgan Urquia

John Bender speaks to a generation of '80s rebels whose job is to tick people off. Society needs one thing to progress: a catalyst, a person who isn't afraid to push people over the edge into a quarry of realization. Bender inspired a generation to get over their predetermined position in the social chain and open their eyes to problems everyone experiences.

Continue reading "Your Turn: John Bender" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 16, 2008

Your Turn: Ed Kennedy

From I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak
Nominated by Ben Buhrman

Literary heroes come in many forms. Most of those forms take shape in above and beyond characterizations of the superman (or woman) we all want to be. But a select few writers create characters that, instead of being abnormally heroic, are heroically normal. Ed Kennedy of I Am the Messenger is a perfect example of this.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Ed Kennedy" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Scout Finch

From To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee
Nominated by Patrice Lattrell

Ever since I heard the introduction for the In Character blog on NPR I have pondered the character I would choose. As a high school English teacher and avid reader from childhood, I have a pantheon of favorite characters, all of them best friends to whom I turn when feeling lonely. However, I have finally settled on Scout Finch.

As a little girl growing up in the early 70s, I saw Scout as a role model in a world with very few strong girl characters.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Scout Finch" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Betty Boop

From the Talkartoon and Betty Boop cartoon film series, produced by Max Fleischer
Nominated by Samantha Melendez

First appearing on television in the 1930s, the "Boop-Oop-A-Doop" girl won the hearts of many Americans with her overt sexual appeal. Betty Boop, the first character to represent the new "sexual" woman showed her skin in a short dress that showed her garter belt and her cleavage. Little did I know that she represented an era where women felt "awakened" by their sexuality.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Betty Boop" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Cameron Frye

From Ferris Bueller's Day Off, directed by John Hughes
Nominated by Sara King

Ferris Bueller is who every teenager wants to be. He is the cool, slick, lovable wise guy. But what about the other guy — Cameron? Though Ferris is one righteous dude, it is Cameron that I relate to.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Cameron Frye" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Wishbone

From Wishbone, created by Rick Duffield
Nominated by Ellie Milano

Who better to represent a classic American fictional character than man's best friend? In PBS's late 1990s TV series, Wishbone was a spunky terrier who mixed events from his everyday life with his owners, the Talbots, with stories from classic literature. Creating storylines based on works such as Romeo and Juliet, Joan of Arc, Rip van Winkle, and Treasure Island, Wishbone opened many children's eyes to famous literature, without their even knowing it.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Wishbone" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 15, 2008

Your Turn: Charlie Brown

From the Peanuts comic strip, created by Charles M. Schulz
Nominated by Jennifer Harrell

Charlie Brown balloon, Macy's parade'

Good sport: Charlie Brown, eternally in pursuit of that football.

Stephen Chernin, Getty Images

Charlie Brown is appealing to all people because you cannot help but feel bad for him. In "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," Charlie Brown works on his costume diligently, but it turns out to be a debacle. As he trick-or-treats with his friends, he only gets rocks, while others get candy.

He demonstrates the feelings we have on those days when everything seems to go wrong. It breaks your heart to watch Charlie Brown struggle to kick the football, knowing Lucy will inevitably pull it away, but his perseverance is inspiring.

At the end of the day, Charlie Brown is surrounded by friends like Snoopy and Linus who, although they get fed-up with him, care about him. In the Christmas special, the others were frustrated when he bought the dilapidated Christmas tree, but they rallied together to make the tree -- and Charlie Brown's Christmas -- beautiful.

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Ann Marie

From That Girl, created by Sam Denoff and Bill Persky
Nominated by Joan Winslow

That Girl skipped into my life, throwing her hat into my four-year-old soul. She was a good girl who happily lived alone, talked back to her father, palled around with a nice guy -- the ideal liberated woman from the viewpoint of a small girl.

Especially one whose own father spat out the words "women's lib" and "independent" with the venom of profanity. As many did: the Women's Liberation Movement was deeply contentious inside many a home.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Ann Marie" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Tony Montana

From Scarface, directed by Brian De Palma
Nominated by John Brann.

Tony Montana has become an American icon to guys everywhere after appearing in Scarface. He holds the characteristics that every man desires. Montana is tough, fearless, courageous, power hungry and doesn't care what anyone else thinks.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Tony Montana" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Jessica Darling

From the Sloppy Firsts book series by Megan McCafferty
Nominated by Izumi Suzuki

Jessica Darling might not be the most famous American icon. In fact, her name may only resonate with teenage girls like me, who enjoy this series and its relatable, imperfect heroine. Jessica is your average 17-year-old, dealing with awkward growing pains and everyday struggles with as much dry humor as possible.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Jessica Darling" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Our Cast of Characters

Thus far many of the characters we've heard about in the series are, well, not all that serious -- Bugs, Mudbone, Lassie! There's nothing wrong with that. We often say we need to have more fun on NPR.

And each segment has pointed out the cultural significance of the character in question: How Mudbone's travels are resonant of the Great Migration; Bugs Bunny's role in WWII; the Lone Ranger to the rescue during the Depression.

Still, as the series goes on, we'll also look at characters who speak to more complex aspects of American history or human behavior or both. For example, Farai Chideya will discuss Huck Finn's Jim and his impact on both white and African-American literature; Scott Simon will examine the delusional Willy Loman; and Larry Abramson will look at the hubris of Captain Ahab.

Of course, underneath all great characters -- even the funny ones -- you often find something pretty profound. Even Cookie Monster has been called "the icon of the id."

-- Elizabeth Blair

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Rocky Balboa

From the Rocky film series, created by Sylvester Stallone.
Nominated by Chris Sowers

During the 1970s and 1980s and the struggles of the Cold War, one character defined America: Rocky Balboa. Rocky IV shows the struggle between Russia and America as Balboa clashes with Ivan Drago, Russia's premier fighter.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Rocky Balboa" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Nick and Nora Charles

From The Thin Man
Book by Dashiell Hammett
Films 1-4 directed by W.S. Van Dyke, later Richard Thorpe (The Thin Man Goes Home), and followed by Edward Buzzell (Song of the Thin Man)
Nominated by Petar Lazic

I have never loved a pair of alcoholics more than I love Nick and Nora. There is something about them, their charm, their wit, their playful but thorough love for each other, that, to my mind, puts them among the great couples in literary history: Helen and Paris, Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliette, Catherine and Heathcliff, Rhett and Scarlett. And of all of these, they are the only couple I'd actually like to spend time with.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Nick and Nora Charles" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 14, 2008

On Air: The Lone Ranger (Plus Web Extras!)

» Hear the 'All Things Considered' radio commentary

Hiya. So many submissions today -- you guys are outta control. Sorry I haven't been more vocal, but I was a little distracted today, publishing your comments and building the Web version of Robert Siegel's piece on the Lone Ranger.

If you missed it on the radio, be sure you give it a listen over here. The on-air piece weaves in a lot of great sound -- including some terrific musical segues that help illustrate just how widespread TLR's influence has been.

Plus: Bonus audio from comics artist John Cassaday. And the entire Lone Ranger Creed, right there on the Web page. Can't get that on the radio...

-- Trey Graham

comments () | | e-mail

 

Meet the Intern: Lindsay Totty

I'm Lindsay Totty, and I'm an NPR intern this season. With Trey Graham and Elizabeth Blair I've been getting the first look at most of the essays you've been sending in, and fetching some of the links that add that extra bit of style to the substance you've been so eagerly giving us (when I'm not getting distracted with YouTube clips of the TV shows your submissions bring up).

There have been so many great nominations coming from NPR listeners, and I've been having a lot of fun reading them. I even took the time to make a character nomination of my own, and, being privy to all the characters that are popular with you, I'm able to introduce you to one that you may not have heard of, but I'm sure you'll grow to love. So without further ado:

Roast Beef Kazenzakis
From the critically acclaimed webcomic Achewood
Written and drawn by Chris Onstad

Roast Beef'

Hard habit to break: Achewood's Roast Beef

Courtesy Chris Onstad

Roast Beef is a cat who stands on his hind legs, speaks an idiosyncratic form of Ebonics, and designs web pages. He is one of the most beloved characters of a serialized web cartoon called Achewood. In a recent strip, he explained that hypothetically, it should be easy to hack into and sabotage a Stephen Hawking lecture because the renowned physicist "is basically a laptop."

What makes Roast Beef so appealing is the dark comedy produced by his intensely self-deprecating demeanor combined with the rare instances of pride and hard-won self-love that he exhibits over the course of the comic strip.

Roast Beef once threatened violence against someone who talked disparagingly of his closest friend -- an AIBO robotic dog. At the urging of his girlfriend, Molly, he moved out of his callous grandmother's house. Earlier this year, he successfully (and accidentally) proposed marriage to Molly. We love Beef because he tries and often fails to love himself.

-- Lindsay Totty

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Elle Woods

From Legally Blonde, directed by Robert Luketic
Nominated by Tiffany Luu

Elle Woods defies the stereotype of the "dumb blonde" and promotes the ideals of the "American Dream." When she is faced with an arduous task, she is driven to do her best, no matter how ridiculous it may be. Woods gives hope for women every where to emulate her persevering character by believing in what may seem like the impossible.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Elle Woods" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Unmask that Man

On this evening's All Things Considered, Robert Siegel focuses his lens on the Lone Ranger. What a backstory! I had no idea. Now I understand why every boy I knew growing up was a fan.

We've received well over a hundred essays from listeners. Perusing the entries I can tell you we've got lots of fans of Forrest Gump and Cinderella. (She's not American so we won't be putting her on the couch. But Gump is a strong possibility.)

Just a reminder to essay writers: Be sure to tell us why this character is important to you on a personal level.

-- Elizabeth Blair

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Jack Bauer

From 24, created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran
Nominated by Mike McCabe

Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, is the protagonist of 24, the hit Fox television show. If someone were to ask me what I think of when someone says America, I would say, with firm delivery, "Red meat, power tools, and Jack Bauer."

Continue reading "Your Turn: Jack Bauer" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Scarlett O'Hara

From Gone With The Wind.
Book by Margaret Mitchell
movie directed by Victor Fleming
Nominated by Sabrina Stevens

If ever there was a character who has made an impression on American society, it is Scarlett O'Hara of Gone with the Wind. From the time the book was written, to the first airing of the movie based on the book, and subsequent showings of the movie, Scarlett O'Hara is a heroine that all Americans, male and female, can look up.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Scarlett O'Hara" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Superman

From the Superman comic books, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Nominated by Chris and Paul Boldt

No discussion of iconic American characters is complete without mention of the Man of Steel. We dream of having his strength, flight, speed and power to rival any of the Olympians.

Beyond wish fulfillment, however, what does it really mean that we embody "truth, justice, and the American way" in a godlike figure who, although an alien, was raised in the American heartland?

Continue reading "Your Turn: Superman" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 11, 2008

Your Turn: HAL 9000

From the Space Odyssey saga
Books by Arthur C. Clarke
2001:A Space Odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick
2010: The Year We Make Contact directed by Peter Hyams
Nominated by Chris and Paul Boldt

We would like to nominate HAL as a character of great influence in popular American culture. For a people awed by technology, and terrified by our minimal understanding of it, he is the perfect icon.

HAL 9000 from '2001: A Space Odyssey'

He's sorry, Dave: HAL 9000, embodiment of our brightest tech dreams and our darkest fears, too.

Photo: MGM

He is coolly reasonable, yet hides dark secrets. He acts on principle, yet his principles are not those of the people whom he is intended to serve. His knowledge is only what his human creators have provided, but since he has been informed by many people, he can outwit any one of them.

The spaceship's crew are dependent on him, but their interests are not his first concern. They can only interrupt his forward progression by disrupting their own goals and bringing themselves to harm. He encapsulates all our bipolar reverence for human ingenuity, and his fatal flaw is that he, too, is conflicted.

Completely consonant with the zeitgeist of the decade in which he was invented, HAL's relevance increases with each new invention, and each compromise that invention forces us to make.

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: The Little Tramp

From the Tramp films, created by and starring Charlie Chaplin
Nominated by Mark Levine

Well, obviously Chaplin was English, but his Little Tramp character was an incredibly endearing figure that, to me at least, has become one of the icons of an American era.

Continue reading "Your Turn: The Little Tramp" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Tyler Durden

From Fight Club. Book by Chuck Palahniuk, movie directed by David Fincher
Nominated by Marissa Gonzalez

In contemplating the post-modern American villain, the model that immediately comes to mind is Chuck Palahniuk's Tyler Durden from Fight Club. More than a straightforward moustache-twirler, his charisma and free-spirited attitude makes his villainy as sympathetic as it is (ultimately) terrible. And while mistrust and xenophobia are easy answers when looking for a villain to fear, the fact that Tyler lives in the unnamed narrator's head makes him all the more terrifying. He is human discontent. What keeps you up at night.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Tyler Durden" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Andy Dufresne

From the novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, by Stephen King.
The Shawshank Redemption directed by Frank Darabont
Nominated by Christina Rivera

One of my favorite American fiction characters is Andy Dufresne from Stephen King's Shawshank Redemption. An innocent man falsely accused of and imprisoned for the murders of his wife and her lover, instead of allowing himself to be crushed by his circumstances he holds firm to who he is as well as what he knows to be true.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Andy Dufresne" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Maggie May

From the song "Maggie May," from the album Every Picture Tells A Story. Written by Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton
Nominated by Steven Wynn

I was only 15 years old when this song came out, but I always found it a little strange. After 37 years I realize what Maggie represents: the end of youth. Every generation has its Maggie May. She's the person who mocks you, no matter how young and cool you may think you are. "Middle age is coming, bro," she seems to say. And though with time we learn to live with it, we lament with Rod Stewart: "Maggie, I wish I'd never seen your face."

She was mortality, warning us, at 15, of the changes ahead.

That's my interpretation, anyway.

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 10, 2008

Your Turn: Yakko, Wakko and Dot

From Animaniacs, created by Tom Ruegger
Nominated by Graham Murtaugh

When my friends and I — children of the early '90s — complain about "cartoons these days" (believe me, we do), the show I most lament losing is Animaniacs.

Brilliantly cast and irreverently written, the trio of Yakko, Wakko and Dot Warner not only entertained us with their puns, parodies and hijinks, they educated us as well. They were my generation's version of Schoolhouse Rock!, albeit with more burping and bathroom jokes.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Yakko, Wakko and Dot" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Mary Richards

From The Mary Tyler Moore Show, created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns
Nominated by Kathryn Macek

A few years ago I clipped out an ad from the TV section of The Los Angeles Times. It was a picture of "our Mary" sitting at her desk at WJM, with that look on her face. The caption read: "You may seem like a goody-two-shoes now, but you were on birth control before Ally McBeal was born."

Continue reading "Your Turn: Mary Richards" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 9, 2008

Ask and Ye Shall Receive: 'In Character' on the Web

Writes commenter Je Mo:

"Please add a link from the In Character blog to a page about the actual show. Or make the link more obvious, if it's there — I can't find the show."

And Mike echoes that plaintive cry:

I give up! What time of day is the "In Character" segment being broadcast. I cannot find any time listed on my local NPR station nor on the NPR web site. Can you help us out? I am particularly interested in the Lone Ranger segment, when it comes day & time for it to be broadcast.

I answered Mike in the comments the other day; basically the way NPR and NPR member stations work together means that there's not one answer to that question:

Over the next six months, In Character segments will be airing on almost all of the NPR News shows. ... Because those shows are broadcast (and re-broadcast) at different times in different [cities], it's impossible for us to tell you with any certainty when you might hear a segment. And the fact is that we don't know for certain: We've got a rough schedule, but these things are subject to fine-tuning.

The good news is that if you're reading this, you're now just one click away from every last radio story in the In Character series. As of today, there's a brand-spankin'-new page where all four of the stories that have already aired are collected for your listening pleasure.

And as our hosts and reporters serve up new on-air installments, they'll pop up on that page as well. Coming up next: Andrea Seabrook on Holden Caulfield and Robert Siegel on the Lone Ranger.

-- Trey Graham

p.s.: I've added a permanent link to that series page in the blog header, on the words 'In Character.' And there's another permalink, on the same two words, in the "What is 'In Character'?" box over there in the right-hand sidebar.

comments () | | e-mail

 

Things We Like (Or: The More Personal, the Better)

As we cull the best essays to post on this here blog, we've noticed that the strongest ones are those that are highly personal. A prime example is Evy from Minnesota's reflection on Pecola Breedlove from The Bluest Eye.

Another example is Clifton Tipon's essay on Lloyd Dobler, the John Cusack character from the film Say Anything. Lloyd's not an especially famous character, but Tipon's description evokes his own personal connection. And that's what makes his essay a good read.

You'll notice, as the series goes on, that some of our radio choices will work that way, too. We'll profile characters you may not have heard of. They're characters who aren't so much iconic as indelible, for one reason or another, to some of us.

We hope you'll enjoy being introduced to them. If not: This here blog is your invitation to disagree.

-- Elizabeth Blair

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Laura Ingalls

From the Little House book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Nominated by Callie Kimball

Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls in TV's 'Little House on the Prairie'

Hard work and rock candy: Callie Kimball says Laura Ingalls — portrayed here by Melissa Gilbert in TV's long-running Little House on the Prairie — illustrated the value of bootstrapping in a world that doesn't always take perfect care of its kids.

Photo: NBC/Getty Images

Laura Ingalls — the character, not the author — was a complex girl in a hostile world. That she was based on someone real gave a force to her stories that was absent from the male-driven literature at school. She wasn't pretty, she wasn't plucky, she wasn't particularly clever. Not your typical heroine, and for that I loved her all the more.

She was an example of humor, compassion, and industry I could relate to. She did farm chores that made her strong, she was smart (but only from making the occasional poor choice), and she knew the value of a dollar thanks to her hand-me-down calico dresses.

She showed that living in America involved hard work — but also that there would be square dances and rock candy once in a while. With romanticism and reality, she reinforced the Emersonian virtue of self-reliance in my latchkey adolescence.

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Carrie Bradshaw

From Sex and the City, created by Darren Star
Nominated by Susan Ticker

What was it about Carrie Bradshaw that so captured our attention? A huge segment of TV-watchers hung on each of Sex and the City's 94 episodes as if their own lives were playing out on HBO — or maybe it was the lives they wondered why they weren't living.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Carrie Bradshaw" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Buffy Summers

From Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon
Nominated by Michael Allen

She knowingly went to her death (twice) to save the world. She returned to ultimately give her power to girls and young women around the world. She was a reluctant hero, but always rose to the occasion — even when called upon to send the love of her life to hell to save the world. Through it all, she kept her friends with her.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Buffy Summers" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Dorothy Gale

From The Wizard of Oz. Book by L. Frank Baum, movie directed by Victor Fleming
Nominated by Marta Pelrine-Bacon

At eight, I took a cassette recorder, placed it next to the television and recorded The Wizard of Oz — all so I could hear Dorothy Gale's adventures. I dressed as Dorothy for Halloween, and I shoved favorite toys in my sleeping bag so that if a hurricane hit our house, I'd be ready to stay in the Emerald City.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Dorothy Gale" »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Blackie DuQuesne

From the Skylark books by E.E. "Doc" Smith
Nominated by Nathan Okun

Dr. Marc C. "Blackie" DuQuesne is one of the best villains ever. Absolutely ruthless and ambitious, but also very capable and absolutely honest.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Blackie DuQuesne" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 8, 2008

Your Turn: Mr. Spock

From Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry
Nominated by Hazelyn Patterson

Ah, the pointy-eared one: More than one of you nominated him. And you'll be glad to know we're on your frequency. Stay tuned to In Character in the coming weeks for a radio profile by NPR's Neda Ulaby.

Leonard Nimoy as Spock in TV's 'Star Trek'

"Fascinating" creature: Hazelyn Patterson says Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) was smart, sexy and sometimes psychic.

Photo: Paramount Pictures/Getty Images

He is the perfect icon of nerds (and the not-so-nerdy) across earth and the final frontier. When I was 5, I would sneak out of bed and hide behind the couch at night just to hear him intone "fascinating," a word he made into an icon itself.

Mr. Spock was the '60s representation of what mankind was and what it strove to be. He merged the ethereal, elfin — some say devilish — appearance of a mythological character and the brains of a supercomputer with the human ideals of diversity, loyalty, truth and logic.

And hey, he was just plain sexy, without even trying. Sex symbol, savant and occasional psychic: Spock is an icon for all times.

Like we said: More than one of you thought so. And to help keep things organized, we thought we'd set a new guideline: From now on, we'll post new essays about characters who've already been nominated in the comments on that initial nomination. That way it'll be easy to scroll through and get a sense of just how many different lenses one character can be seen through.

comments () | | e-mail

 

On Air: Lassie

» Hear the 'Morning Edition' radio commentary

So, In Character is in full swing now. JJ Sutherland's piece on Bugs Bunny has gotten plenty of attention here on the blog already. But did you all catch Ketzel Levine's Morning Edition story about Lassie on Monday?

-- Elizabeth Blair

comments () | | e-mail

 

Your Turn: Lloyd Dobler

From Say Anything, written and directed by Cameron Crowe
Nominated by Clifton Tipon in San Jose, Calif.

Lloyd Dobler is not noticeably handsome and not impeccably dressed. He's neither a scholar nor a man of high social stature. Lloyd has one ambition: Win the heart of class valedictorian Diane Court.

The odds look impossible, foolish even. His friends warn of heartaches. "I wanna get hurt," he says.

Continue reading "Your Turn: Lloyd Dobler" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 7, 2008

Why Bugs? Simple ...

» Hear the 'Weekend Edition' radio commentary

When word spread about In Character a while back, I knew instantly which character I wanted to do, and I ran down the hall to Elizabeth Blair's office. I was afraid someone else might get there first and steal the best character going: Bugs Bunny.

Bugs Bunny

Trouble on two paws: Bugs Bunny, American wiseguy

Warner Bros.

Because one of the things that makes working for NPR the best job ever is that I've just gotten paid — paid real money, mind you — to watch Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Bugs has always been my favorite character in the Looney Tunes pantheon. He's so clever, so quick, so smart. I've always wished that I could be more like him — that when faced with a raging bull, I'd have the quick-wittedness to slap him across the nose and tell him to stop steaming up my tail.

Continue reading "Why Bugs? Simple ..." »

comments () | | e-mail

 

Hey, We Got a Graphic

Nothing like a pretty picture to help liven things up. Thanks to NPR Digital Media designer Lindsay Mangum for the composite header atop the blog.

More housekeeping: A small flood of nominations this morning, from Superman to Mary Tyler Moore to Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Eeyore. (Who's not, gloomy as we are to point it out, a product of American pop culture.) Elizabeth Blair and I are reading your essays now, and we'll try to get one of 'em up on the blog later today.

And yes — you knew it was only a matter of time — the dread name of Joseph Campbell has been invoked. (And not for the last time, I imagine.)

-- Trey Graham

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 4, 2008

What Do Cookies Have to Do With Character?

We're in the very early stages of the series, and I'm already inspired by this exchange about Cookie Monster.

Is he a stand-in for an American glutton, or simply one of those beloved Sesame Street characters who have endured for generations, with no sign of going stale?

You could apply Christina R.'s comment about Jim Henson's creations — "as much as they change, the cores of the characters remain the same" — to our nonfiction selves. Seems to me there's a famous quote about how the lines on our faces might change but we're pretty much stuck with our characters for life.

But Steve P. may have a point, too. The (non-American) writer Stendhal could've been commenting on Cookie Monster when he wrote in his essay "de l'Amour" that "Strong characters need strong nourishment." And as the folks at Sesame Street have clearly realized, cookies alone won't do the trick.

-- Elizabeth Blair

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 3, 2008

Your Turn: Pecola Breedlove

From The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
Nominated by Evy in Minnetonka, Minn.

The delicate, distant protagonist of Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye — an 11-year-old mocked for her dark skin, a girl who dreams of trading her brown eyes for Shirley Temple blue — inspired this essay.

Alana Arenas as Pecola Breedlove in 'The Bluest Eye'

Rhapsody in 'Bluest': Pecola Breedlove (Alana Arenas ) in Lydia Diamond's stage adaptation of The Bluest Eye at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

Photo: Michael Brosilow/Steppenwolf Theatre Company

I met Pecola in 1997, when I was a 34-year-old single parent in graduate school. She took me back to 1969, and to elementary school — a school that considered me borderline retarded.

Like Pecola, I prayed for straight hair, straight hair like the girls at school. If I had straight hair, Julie Alezetta would let me sit next to her at lunch, and I would be loved.

Pecola is my mother and her three sisters: Black women, born to a housekeeper who banned all games because games were the work of the devil.

These women were beaten and raped. They were unloved. They escaped into their minds, like Pecola. Today, one is dead, one lives on the streets of Los Angeles, one is lost, and one survives on government aid for mental illness.

Pecola is me, my mother, my aunts.

The Encyclopedia Britannica calls The Bluest Eye the "founding text" of the '70s-era black women's literary renaissance. Self-alienation, a major theme in the novel, has been a note in the author's life as well; Toni Morrison, born Chloe Anthony Wofford, has said she regrets publishing her first novel under another name.

comments () | | e-mail

 

Of Cookie Monster and Other Bad Guys

Well that didn't take long. What are we, three days into this, and we've already got a little backlash? Commenter Steve Petersen writes:

"Cookie Monster unfortunately represents too many Americans, both the obese and [the] deeply indebted ... "

Now, I'm not sure I know how the C-Monster got himself in hock, or what evidence there is to suggest that he's living beyond his means. (Come to think of it, how many Muppets have a visible source of income? I seem to recall Kermit anchoring a newscast, but aside from that ...)

Still, Steve's comment raises a question: Need an intriguing character be a good role model?

Continue reading "Of Cookie Monster and Other Bad Guys" »

comments () | | e-mail

 
January 2, 2008

On Air: Richard Pryor's Mudbone

» Hear the 'News & Notes' radio commentary

Before I sign off, a quick note about the first on-air In Character piece, which aired on NPR's News & Notes.

Author and academic William Jelani Cobb ruminates on the character of Mudbone, who was the aged, truth-telling alter ego of comedian Richard Pryor. Give a listen.

And then, of course, you're invited to come back here and tell us what you think.

Tomorrow: Your questions, comments and character nominations. Thanks for joining in!

--Trey Graham

comments () | | e-mail

 

New Year's Greetings (Plus an Introduction)

Alrighty then. Back from the New Year's holiday. (And man, talk about your characters — there were NPR folks singing karaoke at one party I went to, is all I'm sayin'.)

I'm Trey Graham, from NPR Digital Media, and I'll be co-hosting this In Character blog with Elizabeth Blair.

Patricia Clarkson as Blanche DuBois in the 2004 Kennedy Center production of 'A Streetcar Named Desire'

Y'Are Blanche: Tennessee Williams' Blanche DuBois, played by Patricia Clarkson in a 2004 Kennedy Center staging. Like many of us, she's needy and ruthless and fiercely alive.

Photo: Joan Marcus/The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

And since Elizabeth led off the other day with the notion of introduction-by-way-of- favorite-character, I guess I'd better go ahead and confess it: I've got a thing for Tennessee Williams' voracious women.

Gallant, foolish, frantic Amanda Wingfield, destabilizing her family in the name of preserving it; greedy, canny Maggie the Cat; Blanche DuBois, that black widow disguised as a butterfly (about whom you'll hear more later in the series, from NPR's Lynn Neary).

Chandler Vinton as Lady Torrance in the 2004 Arena Stage production of 'Orpheus Descending'

Torrid Torrance: Lady Torrance (Chandler Vinton), awakening to longing in a smoldering production of Orpheus Descending at Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage.

Photo: Scott Suchman/Arena Stage

And then there's my very favorite — proud, doomed Lady Torrance, the hungry hothouse flower growing in the bitter small-town earth of Orpheus Descending. (She, of all of them, comes closest to knowing happiness, which is maybe why I fall hardest for her.)

Inevitable, maybe, my attraction to these women: I grew up in the South. And in my other life, I'm a theater critic, so I've spent plenty of time in their company.

I like 'em because — never mind the manners and the moonlight-and-magnolias language — they're such fierce creatures. They're so determined, never mind what fate throws at them; they cling so desperately to their dreams, their desires.

("Desire is the opposite of death," says Blanche, in one of Williams' humid passages, and I've seen enough Blanches by now to know that when she says "desire" she means "ravening hunger for life.")

In that voraciousness, Williams' women are these monumental feminine personifications of the id — like Cookie Monster, they don't always see much beyond the next appetite, the next manipulation, the next immediate gratification.

And in that, too, they're quintessentially American: The long view isn't always our national long suit. Williams' women, with their surfaces and their schemes and their sad, sordid endings, may just have something to teach us about how to treat — or how not to treat — our neighbors. And ourselves.

--Trey Graham

comments () | | e-mail

 


   
   
   
null


 
Elizabeth Blair.

Elizabeth Blair

blogger

 
Trey Graham. Photo: Stan Barouh.

Trey Graham

blogger

 
 
 

Who Moves You?

Join the In Character conversation: Tell us about the fictional characters who've told you something about yourself or your world. Your essay may appear here on the blog — or even on the air.

 
 
 

Search 'The 'In Character' Blog'

Search for the word(s):
 
 

What is 'In Character'?

The classic bad girl. The mad scientist. The wise-cracking sidekick. In Character is an NPR series exploring famous American fictional characters, from Atticus Finch to Ugly Betty. What do they say about society? About individual experience? About the comedy and complexity of who we are? Join us, online and on the air, as we ask what makes them tick — and what that means for us.

For more details on this project, read our FAQ and Discussion Guidelines. Or just go ahead and submit your own In Character essay.

 
 

Private Comments

You can contact the In Character team privately if you have comments or questions you do not want posted.

 
 
 

Browse Topics

Services

Programs