# Which fictional character do you most identify with and why?



## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

We have all had them: those moments when we are deep in a book and suddenly we realize...this is ME!

Which fictional character has given you one of those moments and why? Mine is Bilbo Baggins from *The Hobbit*. I can relate to him because he desired to be "respectable" (i.e., never have any scandal attached to his name) but at the same time could be swept away on the tide of adventure regardless of how it looked to others (both are my weak spots). He loved a good party (when it was expected and he personally invited the guests) but also had those moments when he was tired of "those confounded relatives always hanging on my bell."  He loved to give unusual or funny gifts (same here), and to collect old songs and tales (ditto) as well as tell a good tale himself (guilty as charged). And while Bilbo learned to wield Sting in a mighty way (I confess; I too have a sword and know how to use it) he also learned that words were powerful and could be used to deliver from danger, as witness to his quick wits in the riddle game with Gollum and his lulling of Smaug with some well applied flattery (not that I would _ever_ flatter anyone, but I _can_ think quick on my feet).

Who do you relate to and why?


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## Kenneth Rosenberg (Dec 3, 2010)

Probably Ishmael, from _Moby Dick_. In the very beginning of the novel, he says,

"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off-then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can&#8230; If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings toward the ocean with me."

That paragraph inspired me to actually sign up as a merchant seaman and go to sea myself, so I've always identified with him.


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## jeffaaronmiller (Jul 17, 2012)

Well, not now, but after I read Stephen King's It when I was 14, I really identified with both Ben Hanscom and Bill Denbrough, so much so that they served as ongoing inspiration for me to be more confident and less introverted and uncertain.


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

Kenneth Rosenberg said:


> Probably Ishmael, from _Moby Dick_. In the very beginning of the novel, he says,
> 
> "Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off-then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can&#8230; If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings toward the ocean with me."
> 
> That paragraph inspired me to actually sign up as a merchant seaman and go to sea myself, so I've always identified with him.


Ah, going to sea _would_ be a true adventure. I have always harbored a longing to have been a sailor on an old merchant clipper ship and travel the world back when it was still diverse and not influenced by Western culture.


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## Kenneth Rosenberg (Dec 3, 2010)

lmroth12 said:


> Ah, going to sea _would_ be a true adventure. I have always harbored a longing to have been a sailor on an old merchant clipper ship and travel the world back when it was still diverse and not influenced by Western culture.


Yeah, it would have been a lot more fun to go to sea in an old sailing ship for sure!


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

Kenneth Rosenberg said:


> Yeah, it would have been a lot more fun to go to sea in an old sailing ship for sure!


Yup, the sound of the wind in the sails, the splash of waves against the side while at anchor, and the creak of the timber. Somehow, a modern ship just wouldn't be the same as they are so large that you can forget you are actually at sea.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

lmroth12 said:


> Yup, the sound of the wind in the sails, the splash of waves against the side while at anchor, and the creak of the timber. Somehow, a modern ship just wouldn't be the same as they are so large that you can forget you are actually at sea.


You could join the Coast Guard if you want to really hear and feel the sea.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Kenneth, and especially LM, have you seen this? I have it in my backlist, but haven't read it yet.

As it happens, two C. S. Forester characters I've strongly identified with were both sailors. The famous Horatio Hornblower, and the much less famous Dr. Blanke, in the short story "Dr. Blanke's First Command." Both were intellectual types in a military organization. I spent time in the Army as an officer and often thought of them both.

I admire Sherlock Holmes as well! but that's more a sense of awe or perhaps aspiration, rather than feeling I was like him.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

NogDog said:


> You could join the Coast Guard if you want to really hear and feel the sea.


Nog, Once when I went whale watching in a Zodiac, I swear it was really like that! Exciting, but not something I want to do again.


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## Kenneth Rosenberg (Dec 3, 2010)

The Hooded Claw said:


> Kenneth, and especially LM, have you seen this? I have it in my backlist, but haven't read it yet.


I hadn't heard of that one, but it sounds like it's right up my alley, thanks for the heads up. It reminds me of Richard Henry Dana's _Two Years Before the Mast_, about a similar journey in the 1830's. Have you read that one? Here's a free version:



And Nog, that looks like a whole lot of fun, as long as there's something to hang on to!


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## PaulLev (Nov 2, 2012)

Hari Seldon, from Asimov's Foundation series.  It's nice to be able to mathematically predict the future.


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

NogDog said:


> You could join the Coast Guard if you want to really hear and feel the sea.


    
Thankfully, I had just swallowed a sip of my morning coffee before seeing this picture and comment!

But I will keep it in mind!


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

The Hooded Claw said:


> Kenneth, and especially LM, have you seen this? I have it in my backlist, but haven't read it yet.
> 
> As it happens, two C. S. Forester characters I've strongly identified with were both sailors. The famous Horatio Hornblower, and the much less famous Dr. Blanke, in the short story "Dr. Blanke's First Command." Both were intellectual types in a military organization. I spent time in the Army as an officer and often thought of them both.
> 
> I admire Sherlock Holmes as well! but that's more a sense of awe or perhaps aspiration, rather than feeling I was like him.


It looks great: I will have to check it out!


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

PaulLev said:


> Hari Seldon, from Asimov's Foundation series. It's nice to be able to mathematically predict the future.


Hmmm, sounds fascinating.  How are you coming with that? Any success so far?


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## lee27 (Mar 3, 2011)

I took this quiz developed by the Scottish Book Trust: https://frozen-everglades-6644.herokuapp.com/

Found out my literary soulmate is Jane Eyre ("To understand you is to love you"). I know a number of people who took the quiz and only two got the same character.

It is a thoughtful quiz, though on several of the questions it was hard to pick just one answer.


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

lee27 said:


> I took this quiz developed by the Scottish Book Trust: https://frozen-everglades-6644.herokuapp.com/
> 
> Found out my literary soulmate is Jane Eyre ("To understand you is to love you"). I know a number of people who took the quiz and only two got the same character.
> 
> It is a thoughtful quiz, though on several of the questions it was hard to pick just one answer.


Sounds like fun, but I took a Lord of the Rings character quiz once that had very limited questions and they pegged me as Legolas. I thought surely they must be mistaken so I tried 3 MORE TIMES, but always got the same answer.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

lee27 said:


> I took this quiz developed by the Scottish Book Trust: https://frozen-everglades-6644.herokuapp.com/
> 
> Found out my literary soulmate is Jane Eyre ("To understand you is to love you"). I know a number of people who took the quiz and only two got the same character.
> 
> It is a thoughtful quiz, though on several of the questions it was hard to pick just one answer.


My result:

_
DR. WATSON

You are Dr. Watson from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

You might prefer the company of one good friend to a crowd but, despite this introversion, you maintain an offbeat sense of humour your friends and colleagues love. Even though you place trust in a sense of law and order, you are flexible enough to blur lines should your friends ask for a spot of burglary in an excellent cause.

On tough days, when you're suffering from certain over-bearing colleagues, you might feel inadequate and defensive. However, you balance this with good intuition and often surprisingly good people skills, not least your fierce loyalty to friends._

Sounds reasonably close, but since I've never read any Sherlock Holmes (*gasp*!), I have no idea if I'd really identify with him.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

NogDog said:


> Sounds reasonably close, but since I've never read any Sherlock Holmes (*gasp*!), I have no idea if I'd really identify with him.


*gasp* indeed! I'm not sure I'm allowed to talk to you now!


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

lee27 said:


> I took this quiz developed by the Scottish Book Trust: https://frozen-everglades-6644.herokuapp.com/
> 
> Found out my literary soulmate is Jane Eyre ("To understand you is to love you"). I know a number of people who took the quiz and only two got the same character.
> 
> It is a thoughtful quiz, though on several of the questions it was hard to pick just one answer.


Um, it says I am Katniss. Thats the one from the hunger games thingies right? Never read or watched. Doesn't she like shoot kids with bow and arrow? . 
Interestingly reading the explanation does make more sense. Well minus the hunting. 


> You enjoy hunting alone or with a good friend as opposed to prolonged social interactions but this gives you more time to reflect on your experiences, adapting your strategies and approach accordingly. On bad days you might get fussy, defensive and hard to please and struggle with communication.
> 
> Like Katniss' ignorance of Gale's obvious affections, you might misread other people's feelings from time to time but your friends will testify that if people show you loyalty and kindness, they'll get it back in spades. Qualities they might call upon should they ever be involved in a fight to the death.


Other than that, I don't think I have ever identified with anyone in a book. Not that I can recall.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

For me, I supposedly line up with George Smiley of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I've vaguely heard of the book, but know nothing of the character. I thought I should be pleased to be a super cool spy, except that the quiz description says Smiley is the antithesis of James Bond! Oh well....


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## Seleya (Feb 25, 2011)

lee27 said:


> I took this quiz developed by the Scottish Book Trust: https://frozen-everglades-6644.herokuapp.com/
> 
> Found out my literary soulmate is Jane Eyre ("To understand you is to love you"). I know a number of people who took the quiz and only two got the same character.
> 
> It is a thoughtful quiz, though on several of the questions it was hard to pick just one answer.


Thank you! I tried it out and got...

_
MMA RAMOTSWE
You are Mma Ramotswe from The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Mma Ramotswe relies on her intuition and understanding of people, rather than attention to the details of the law, to help her solve cases. Her rare insight into how people work is something you share.

Your quest for finding meaning in life draws you towards jobs that help you make the world a better place. Although you're generally calm and laid-back, on bad days you can become introverted, stubborn and inflexible, and you have a strong dislike for conflict. Yet you are capable of achieving so much, including great writing, if you'd only give yourself more credit._

I _love_ Mma Ramotswe and many elements in the description are spot-on (I work as a cultural mediator, all about getting people to communicate with each other in constructive and confict-less ways).


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

lee27 said:


> I took this quiz developed by the Scottish Book Trust: https://frozen-everglades-6644.herokuapp.com/
> 
> Found out my literary soulmate is Jane Eyre ("To understand you is to love you"). I know a number of people who took the quiz and only two got the same character.
> 
> It is a thoughtful quiz, though on several of the questions it was hard to pick just one answer.


Yeah, the questions weren't really specific enough to be able to pick just one out of two answers sometimes. In particular, the one about seeing someone at a party crying, do you get involved or keep your distance? Well, that totally depends on who the person is and what the situation is. If it's a stranger or a mere acquaintance, I would keep my distance, unless the person was obviously alone and no one else was comforting them. But naturally, if the person was my friend, I would get involved and try to help them. I assumed the person was supposed to be a stranger, since it said "someone" rather than "a friend" - but even so, it would really depend on whether the person appeared on their own or not. I hate questions like this when the choices don't allow for more than a black and white answer.

I got "Scout" from To Kill A Mockingbird - never read it but I looked up the character on Wikipedia. I was a tomboy as a child, though none of the questions I answered would have indicated that so probably just coincidence.


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## Robert McNarland (Dec 3, 2013)

I'm a large fan of Larry Niven - have been since I was fifteen when I became enthralled with the Ringworld series. One of my favorite characters out of all of Larry Niven's books is Sigmund Ausfaller the agent from ARM  - the Amalgamated Regional Militia. Like many of the characters found in his books, Sigmund is a deep thinker that is both reasonable yet willing to pursue what he believes is right at great cost.

Of course, just writing these words I fully grasp that he conforms to the hero of every plot in every book - but perhaps it's Larry Niven's intricate way of piecing events from all of his novels together through one or two key men that it is exciting to read and get into Sigmund Ausfaller's head.

That character inspired me to edit my plot for Book Two to include a similar personality type... and then, when I actually began writing the story, I found out the character is me! Okay, I'm not anywhere as cool as he is - he's done some pretty awesome things in his life.

Cheers,

Robert


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Robert McNarland said:


> I'm a large fan of Larry Niven - have been since I was fifteen when I became enthralled with the Ringworld series. One of my favorite characters out of all of Larry Niven's books is Sigmund Ausfaller the agent from ARM - the Amalgamated Regional Militia. Like many of the characters found in his books, Sigmund is a deep thinker that is both reasonable yet willing to pursue what he believes is right at great cost.


I am a big fan of Niven's work, though I haven't read it in quite a while. Clearly I need to go back and revisit the books. I remember Gil the ARM very well, and the name Sigmund Ausfaller is vaguely familiar to me but I really don't remember him.


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

Robert McNarland said:


> I'm a large fan of Larry Niven - have been since I was fifteen when I became enthralled with the Ringworld series. One of my favorite characters out of all of Larry Niven's books is Sigmund Ausfaller the agent from ARM - the Amalgamated Regional Militia. Like many of the characters found in his books, Sigmund is a deep thinker that is both reasonable yet willing to pursue what he believes is right at great cost.
> 
> Of course, just writing these words I fully grasp that he conforms to the hero of every plot in every book - but perhaps it's Larry Niven's intricate way of piecing events from all of his novels together through one or two key men that it is exciting to read and get into Sigmund Ausfaller's head.
> 
> ...


Speaking of Larry Niven he co-wrote with Jerry Pournelle an awesome book called *Lucifer's Hammer * back in the 70s about a giant comet striking the Earth and ending, not the world, but civilization as we know it. He did a fabulous job of getting into the character's heads with _that_ one, using the crisis to expose in them what values they considered essential at the core of their being. I will never forget the scene with the woman who packed all of her expensive makeup and designer clothes in a "survival" kit, and then freaked out and ran away, disappearing completely, when she finally realized that what she would _really_ need was canned food, candles, bottled water, etc., to survive in a world that suddenly reverted to the primitive.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I also like Lucifer's Hammer a lot. It is funny the scenes that will stick with you. For me, it is the surfer who was caught in the tsunami, and managed to catch the wave. I have never surfed in my life, so there's no reason this scene should appeal to me or stay with me, but it did! I could talk about favorite bits of Footfall, but I won't stray even further off topic. 

"Big wave coming!"


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## Ergodic Mage (Jan 23, 2012)

lee27 said:


> I took this quiz developed by the Scottish Book Trust: https://frozen-everglades-6644.herokuapp.com/


Holy Cow I'm








Charlie Bucket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  

I probably identify best with Richard Wakefield from the Rama Series. Though I'm nowhere near as smart, I do have the tendency to go into funks and have the need for isolation now and then. Books are very good for that.


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## Harvey Click (Oct 28, 2013)

Gregor Samsa.


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

lee27 said:


> I took this quiz developed by the Scottish Book Trust: https://frozen-everglades-6644.herokuapp.com/
> 
> Found out my literary soulmate is Jane Eyre ("To understand you is to love you"). I know a number of people who took the quiz and only two got the same character.
> 
> It is a thoughtful quiz, though on several of the questions it was hard to pick just one answer.


Agree it was hard to pick one answer. 

But I took it, and came up with...Emma Morley, One Day. Never read the book, have no idea what it's about. BUT, this does sound like me:

You, and people like you, are often artistic and great counsellors to friends and family. With deep intuition, like Emma, you can often forgive others' behaviour because, somehow, you deeply empathise with the motivations and inner turmoil behind them.

Even though you can appear aloof, bland and stubborn on your bad days you are as warm as you are complex. Your friends hold you close to their hearts and understand your dislike of conflict. With great creativity, given independence, you can excel at jobs to which you commit yourself.

When you first meet me in person, you'll think I'm kinda bland and aloof. But once you get to know me, I'm still kinda bland , but the aloofness goes away as I get to know you better.  And the forgiving others' behavior? This came to roost just yesterday, as I had to tell someone at work I could no longer do certain projects for them anymore because I'm transitioning to something else.


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## lynnfromthesouth (Jun 21, 2012)

I also got Emma Morley, and I also don't have a clue who she is. 

Even as an adult, I am still Ramona Quimby! As a child, I read the Ramona books and thought this girl looks like me, acts like me, her parents say the _exact_ same things to her, and I get into the exact same scrapes.

I also feel like I am very close in personality to Elizabeth Bennett. I tend to watch everybody around me in wry amusement, and sometimes people think I'm a lot more serious or upsettable than I actually am.


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## Harvey Click (Oct 28, 2013)

According to the quiz I'm Mikael Blomkvist from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I guess that's better than Gregor Samsa.


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

LynnBlackmar said:


> Even as an adult, I am still Ramona Quimby! As a child, I read the Ramona books and thought this girl looks like me, acts like me, her parents say the _exact_ same things to her, and I get into the exact same scrapes.


Ah, Ramona: Boing, Boing, Boing!


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