One of the reasons I love reading so much is because I get the opportunity to experience things I wouldn’t get to experience otherwise. Even though I love living vicariously through characters, I wouldn’t want to trade places with many of them. There are some lives that I’d rather keep inside the pages of the books. Here’s my top ten list (in no particular order):
- Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games: I definitely would not want to trade places with Katniss. I have absolutely no desire to compete in the Hunger Games (I mean, who does?!). I am not fierce the way Katniss is, and I have zero survival skills. If I were in the Hunger Games, I would surely be the first to die.
- Harry Potter from the Harry Potter series: Don’t get me wrong, there are aspects of Harry’s life that I envy. I would kill to be a student at Hogwarts, for example. And, who doesn’t want to have super cool wizard powers? But, I would not want to be the Chosen One, destined to fight Voldemort and save the world. That’s a lot of pressure. No thank you!
- Ender Wiggin from Ender’s Game: Like Harry Potter, Ender is another character who has a ton of responsibility thrust upon him at a young age. He’s ridiculed because he is a third child, and he’s bullied for being placed on the fast track toward military success. During his military training, Ender has to make tough, almost impossible, life decisions that I just would not be able to make.
- Jonas from The Giver: Jonas lives in a world that I would not want to live in–a world devoid of color and true emotion, where everything is dictated by society. There’s no choice or freedom in life. And, Jonas is so different, set apart from everyone else in the community. I wouldn’t want to be as different as he is; it would be a lonely life.
- Kate from The Taming of the Shrew: I love Shakespeare, but his female characters tend to get the short end of the stick. Kate is no exception to this. She starts out as a strong female character who is a force to be reckoned with. She doesn’t really care what other people think and she isn’t afraid to speak her mind. But eventually, she succumbs to Petruchio’s taming. In the process, she loses the fire of her personality and allows herself to be defined by what society tells her is right. I would not want to lose my identity the way she does in the play.
Posted in Top Ten Tuesday