Recent comments in /f/books

DoctorGuvnor t1_jctplut wrote

Reply to Who is the most memorable protagonist of a book that you ever read? by Triumphant-Smile

What an interesting question!

After much thought I can narrow it down to three:

Huckleberry Finn, from Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (Also from the Greg Matthews sequel, The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Ed Ricketts from Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday and The Log From the Sea of Cortez (real person, but definitely a protagonist)

Toad from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.

Further thought has given me Keith Stewart from Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute (although many of his heroes are just as memorable)

and His Grace, Sir Samuel Vimes, Duke of Ankh Morpork, Blackboard Monitor and Commander of the City Watch from Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

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Pink_Blue1214 OP t1_jctnwu0 wrote

Reply to comment by Express_Papaya_5221 in Lauren Oya Olamina from Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower/Talents” - is she a Mary Sue? by Pink_Blue1214

Definitely noticed the antipathy towards homeless/poor people in the first novel. My students and I talked about how Lauren can be a little hypocritical- referring to people who live in the streets as “human maggots” while she lives a comfortable and enviable life inside a gated community

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techneton t1_jctl6e1 wrote

Reply to comment by Pink_Blue1214 in Lauren Oya Olamina from Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower/Talents” - is she a Mary Sue? by Pink_Blue1214

I didn't think Butler was trying to make a judgement about the relationship as much as she was illustrating something about Lauren.

I see Lauren's relationship with Bankole as further illustration that she has a kind of...I don't wanna outsized or inflated...but she has a large perception of her own capability and self-importance. She sees herself as special and so, while she is a sharer, she kind of holds herself above and apart from most people, especially those her own age. It's easier for her to feel that Bankole is her equal because he's so much older and more experienced. The wisdom and experience conferred by his age allows her to see him as more "equal" to her than people in her own cohort.

Now that I think about it, I kind of think Lauren being a sharer could be a way Butler tried to humanize her in the first book. Again Lauren holds herself above and apart from other people. Lauren is an adept reader and manipulator of others and is always thinking about how she and hers can best benefit from a situation. If we weren't constantly being beat over the heat with her empathic capability she could have felt kind of sociopathic.

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