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The Best Character in Fiction?

The 2 standard answers that I usually hear are Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird and Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby. I tend to throw in a character from Popular literature and include Roland from The Dark Tower Series. I think all are brilliant characters that are fascinating to read.

Mike
 
not **the** best, but one of the more interesting....

I'd have to say T.S. Garp from The World According to Garp. He's one hell of an interesting character. -B
 
I'm with you, Savage. I think Roland from The Dark Tower series is a good choice from modern literature. I'd have to go with Javert (spelling OK?) from Les Miz if we're talking classic.
 
interesting....

javert, eh? (i sound so canadian :D ) well thats no good...he was the ultimate bad guy! :( -B
 
Sometimes the bad guys make the best characters. Javert is a very complex. I like that he doesn't go through a character change throughout the book. No transformation. Because he can't transform, can't change how he feels, his only alternative is to kill himself.

What a great tragic figure.
 
Originally posted by savage_henry
I tend to throw in a character from Popular literature and include Roland from The Dark Tower Series.[/B]
Click to expand...
I second --no, wait: third-- that... Roland's a good one, though it's really hard to say who's you're absolute favourite... There's always so many factors involved...
 
Devil's Advocate

Having not read the Dark Tower books, I'm not in a position to criticise or deride the choice of many to put this Roland character up alongside Jay Gatsby or some of the other "classics" mentioned (where's Hamlet, by the way?).

However, only Dawn has actually given evidence and reasons to back up her selection (Javert from Les Miserables). I know Gatsby, and Boo Radley, but there may be other users who haven't read the books in which they appear. Yes, Darren did specify "favourite" rather than "best" in his opening gambit, but that doesn't allow for much back-and-forth. So how about a bit of justification, folks? I mean, for a start, someone tell me what's so great about this Roland?

Tobytook
 
Without a doubt it's got to be Death in the Discworld Books. There isn't really one reason but if you pinned me down I'd say that it's because of the way he took the place of the Hogfather on the book of the same name. We've got a model of Death as The Hogfather on the mantelpiece in the lounge.

Mike
 
Got to agree with you, Mike, that's a top character. But don't you feel he's best used as a bit-player (with the exception of Mort, perhaps)? I tend to recall the Death-o-centric books in the series as less rewarding, generally.

Tobytook
 
Favorite male characters: Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, William of Baskerville from "The Name of the Rose".

Favorite female characters: Elizabeth Bennet from "Pride and Prejudice", Kate from "The Taming of the Shrew", Beatrice from "Much ado about nothing".

Why hasn't anybody else suggested a best female character yet?:p;)
 
Re: Devil's Advocate

Originally posted by Tobytook
[...] So how about a bit of justification, folks? I mean, for a start, someone tell me what's so great about this Roland?
Click to expand...
OK, for a start: I honestly couldn't say what attracted me in Roland.
Maybe I can't really say because it's been such a long time since I read a Dark Tower story, or maybe it's because I think liking someone or something is something that happens subconsciously. You can, of course, to a certain extent say which elements you like(d) and which you dislike(d), but isn't there always a part of yourself having the feeling you can't quite put your finger on it? That feeling does make it a bit difficult to justify yourself, right? Or is "liking" really something rational?
 
Roland Deschain of Gilead, Son of Stephen, Last Gunslinger, Dinh of the Ka-Tet of 1999. Without a doubt the most interesting character I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
 
Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights
I've never hated a character that vigorously. And a guy from a book who draws so much negative emotions from readers is just plain gorgeous. I takes guts to write a guy like him.


Esther Greenwood from The Bell Jar
She has this fascinating dreamy determination and blunt reasoning in the face of serious decisions. And she's going nuts in a funny/ scary way.
 
Severus Snape...;) he's such a complex character. Also, some of the characters from Watership Down....Hazel and Fiver.
 
Favourite memorable characters...

  • Oskar Schell from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
  • Humbert the Horrible from Lolita
  • Lolita from Lolita
  • George from The Famous Five by Enid Blyton (just had to include her)
  • Piggy from Lord of the Flies
  • Celie from The Color Purple
  • Chris from The Pact by Jodi Picoult
  • "Offred" from A Handmaid's Tale

There are tons more, I'm sure :)
 
From what I've read so far, off the top of my head:

Ethan Hawley, from Steinbeck's The Winter of our Discontent
Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, from John Updike's Rabbit novels
Meursault, from Albert Camus' The Outsider
Michael Henchard from Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge
The narrator - I forget his name - from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. I always liked him.
Henry Perowne, from Ian McEwan's Saturday
Aljosja Karamazov, the youngest of the brothers, from Dostoevskiy's The Brothers Karamazov
 
William Masen~~The Day of The Triffids
Mr. Rochester~~Jane Eyre
Jamie and Claire~The Outlander Series
Humbert~~ Lolita
Lolita ~~ Lolita

Just off the top of my head.
 
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