Character Traits

I love playing the game, “If you were a literary character, who would you be?” Sometimes when I think about it, I get the same feeling as I do when I give gifts. That feeling of, “Ah yes, this comparison is IT,” and until I get that feeling, I keep thinking, “Eeeehhhh.. that’s not it.”

So a few friends of mine and I started talking about it. The Risable Rambler started it, and then the Dinky Bird and Me and another friend and I got into it. We shortly all agreed that Risabella is Jo March from Little Women. After much discussion, we eventually concluded that our other friend was Miranda from The Tempest (after considering Kanga from Winnie the Pooh, Eowyn from Lord of the Rings, Viola from Twelfth Night, amongst others), and I insisted that Dinky Bird and Me is either Marianne Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility or Lizzie Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. I’m thinking Marianne just works for her (the other choices for her are Galadriel and Eowyn from Lord of the Rings, or Jane Eyre).

Who did they insist I am?

Pippi Longstocking.

Before we got to Pippi they suggested Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables and Mary from The Secret Garden. Now, I refused to be Anne on general principle—L. M. Montgomery’s writing style bugs me—but I do see definite similarities between myself and her, and not just in the red hair. It might be the stubbornness. But I would never sit in a sinking boat quoting a poem. I’m not quite THAT stubborn. And Mary.. Mary just isn’t me.

But Pippi Longstocking?

I actually know very little about Pippi. I have a general impression that she’s a trouble maker and socially inept to a certain degree, but other than that, I don’t really know her. I don’t think I’ve seen any of the Pippi movies or read any of the books, so I can’t say definitively whether I am or am not her. Looking her up on Wikipedia tells me a little more about her personality, and her pension for story telling and not wanting to grow up makes me agree somewhat with my friends’ decision.

Besides similar characteristics, there is something about me being Pippi Longstocking that is ironically appropriate.

But I’m trying not to see the comparison as a statement about how my life is going to go—I don’t think Pippi ever gets married, does she?

(This post was actually written at least a week ago, but I accidentally deleted it instead of scheduling it, so sorry, friends, if this is too far removed from that conversation.)