This week: Assembling your cast of characters Edited by: THANKFUL SONALI Library Class!  
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| I've been absorbed in various series of books lately, and noticing the cast of characters - the main players, the supporting cast, the guests and the cameos. It's fun to analyse what roles each of these play in the story. |
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Dear Reader,
So there is a story to tell, of something that happened to someone.
Who is the 'someone' it happened to? Which other 'someones' is it important to mention? Why or why not?
A. Those in the conflict
"The ubiquitous love triangle in Titanic forced the spirited Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) to choose between two completely dissimilar men; her fiancé the ambitious Caledon Hockley (Billy Zane), and Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) the charming artist. (quoted from the internet)"
Taking 'Titanic' as an example of a conflict - a person v/s person in the form of Jack v/s. Caledon - the people in the conflict are the two men, Rose and possibly Rose's mother, who has something at stake and wants Rose to do as she wishes. They'd be the core characters without whom the story cannot move on.
B. Those in the plot
The plot involves the ship sinking - and people losing their lives (including Jack). This would involve the owners, captain and crew. Anyone who was involved with decisions that led to the ultimate tragedy.
C. Those in the theme
The theme is probably the elite v/s the ordinary. This would involve the first class passengers, the third class passengers - as well as those members of the staff who served them and treated them differently.
All these, together, give us the movie - Titanic.
Remove any group and you remove one aspect of the movie.
*********
In addition, there are other types of characters. The innocent pawns who play a vital role.
In the following extract from Enid Blyton's 'Five are Together Again' (Famous Five Series), we meet an unscrupulous pet-owner and his chimpanzee. The chimpanzee is an unknowing partner-in-crime. The extract highlights animal characters and characters who perform their actions unintentionally.
He heard a ticking in a corner of the cage. "Sounds like a watch or something." He scrabbled about in the straw. He drew out the object hidden underneath it.
Charlie the Chimp saw him looking at it and snatched it away, making growling noises.
"Charlie, where did you get that little clock? Oh, Charlie. Well as you're so sad this morning, I'll give it to you for your very own, just to cheer you up. But oh, Charlie I am surprised at you!"
He rushed back to the house and went to the dining room where the others were still finishing their breakfast.
"Listen, I know who the thief was, who climbed in at the tower window! It was Charlie the Chimp! Why didn't we think of him before? It would be quite easy for him to climb that steep wall, holding on to bits of creeper ..."
"No wonder there was no sign of a ladder being dragged anywhere! But how can you be sure it was Charlie?"
"Do you remember the little clock that was near the fireplace in the tower room? It disappeared on the night of the robbery. I found it hidden in the sttraw in Charlie's cage."
"Poor Charlie. He must have been trained to climb up all sorts of places and steal all sorts of things."
*********
Sometimes, there are characters who seem to be 'minor' but aren't.
In the next two extracts, we come across two types of characters: very minor but necessary, and seemingly minor but playing a pivotal role.
The first extract, from 'Mrs. Pargeter's Plot', we come across a completely anonymous but necessary collection of people. These are the 'other guests' in the hotel at which she is staying. We never meet any of them individually - they simply form the background for Mrs. Pargeter's encounters with her cronies and the management and staff of the hotel. Yet, this anonymous group has been enriched with their own collective quirk, that of eccentricity and acceptance of eccentricity.
In the second extract, from 'Pride and Prejudice', we come across Darcy's aunt, who tries to dissuade Elizabeth Bennet from accepting Darcy's offer of marriage. As it turns out, this has the opposite effect and the aunt's visit to the girl he loves is what brings about the happy ending for the couple. The aunt is a relatively minor character, we don't meet her very often, but her actions play a key role in the plot.
From: (1996) Mrs. Pargeter #5; Mrs. Pargeter's Plot; by Simon Brett
Once she was dressed, Mrs. Pargeter would have gone straight downstairs to breakfast and the solicitor, had she not found something rather unusual in the sitting-room of her suite.
It was a monkey.
She thought she had heard some rather strange noises while she was dressing - but put them down to a quirk of the hotel's air-conditioning or some extravagance of one of the other guests. It took only a short stay in Green's Hotel for the average person to become extremely broad-minded about the behaviour of other guests and of course when it came to broad-mindedness, Mrs. Pargeter had a considerable head-start over the average person.
From: PRIDE & PREJUDICE by Jane Austen; visit of Lady Catherine De Bourgh, Chapter 56 (Extract edited for this newsletter)
"You have a very small park here ... This must be a most inconvenient sitting room for the evening in summer. The windows are full West."
Mrs. Bennet assured her that they never sat there after dinner.
"Miss Bennet," her Ladyship now said, "there seemed to be a prettyish kind of a little wilderness on one side of your lawn. I should be glad to take a turn in it if you will favour me with your company."
Elizabeth attended her noble guest downstairs.
Lady Catherine began. "You can be at no loss, Miss Bennet, to understand the reason of my journey hither. Your own heart, your own conscience, must tell you why I come."
"Indeed you are mistaken, Madam. I have not been able to account at all for the honour of seeing you here."
"Miss Bennet, you ought to know that I am not to be trifled with. But however insincere you may choose to be, you shall not find me so. My character has ever been celebrated for its sincerity and frankness and in a cause of such moment as this I shall certainly not depart from it. A report of a most alarming nature reached me two days ago. I was told that not only was your sister to be most advantageously married, but that you Miss Elizabeth Bennet, would in all likelihood be soon afterward united to my nephew - my own nephew - Mr. Darcy. Though I know it must be a scandalous falsehood, though I would not injure him so much as to suppose the truth of it possible, I instantly resolved on setting off for this place that I might make my sentiments known to you."
"If you believed it impossible to be true," said Elizabeth, colouring with astonishment and disdain, "I wonder you took the trouble of coming so far. What could your Ladyship propose by it?"
"At once to insist upon having such a report universally contradicted."
"Your coming here to see me and my family," said Elizabeth, coolly, "will be rather a confirmation of it, if indeed such a report is in existence."
"If? Do you, then, pretend to be ignorant of it? Has it not been industriously circulated by yourselves? Do you not know that such a report is spread abroad?"
"I never heard that it was."
"Miss Bennet, I insist on being satisfied. Has my nephew made you an offer of marriage?"
"Your Ladyship has declared it to be impossible."
"It ought to be so. It must be so while he retains the use of his reason. But your arts and allurements may, in a moment of infatuation, have made him forget what he owes to himself and to all his family. You may have drawn him in."
"If I have, I shall be the last person to confess it."
"Miss Bennet! Do you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to such language as this. I am almost the nearest relation he has in the world and I am entitled to know all his dearest concerns."
"But you are not entitled to know mine."
Major or minor, active or passive, knowing or unknowing, human, animal, alien ... they're all part of the cast of characters. Held skillfully together, they tell an intriguing tale!
Thanks for listening!
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Thank you for the responses to "Not So Obviously"
Elfin Dragon-finally published 
Hmm, for most hard-working Harry Potter characters I would have thought of Professor Pomona Sprout, who had to take care of all the plants needed for potions, serums, and whatnot. Or even Hagrid because he was Keeper of Keys and gamekeeper, AND Professor of Care of Magical Creatures. So he was not only caring for the grounds. He was caring for the creatures and the students as well.
Of course, my favorite character was always Luna Lovegood. She had a sort of wisdom that was surprising.
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For Authors: December 21, 2022 Issue [#11627]
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