On narrators and others

I sometimes smile and LOL with them (Bridgett Jones from her Diary book), nod my head at some profound observation on life or people (Alex from Roots), completely agree with injustice doled out to what I consider “My” type of situation (Kate Reddy from I don’t know how she does it), empathize and sympathize….. but I never have and never will, fall in love with first person narrators of stories, who also have a role to play in the book.

Looking back in time, I am quite unabashed at letting out that I have had a string of love affairs with one or the other of such characters – some more torrid than others. Starting with Tom Sawyer, my first crush, the list would typically contain Jupe (Julian) from the three investigator series, Rhett Butler from Gone with the wind, Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, Francisco Domingo Carlo Andre Sebastian DeAnconia (Frisco) from Atlas Shrugged and so on and so forth, and a couple of wayside flings with Captain James Kirk, Sherlock Holmes and Huck Finn (These make the list because these were the more enduring than some of the fly by night ones).

For some reason though, I have never found Jim from Great Expectations or Mrs. DeWinter froim Rebecca or even Rahel from God of Small Things, amazing enough to admire them. Sometimes I wonder if Ms. Mitchell had decided to narrate Gone with the Wind with Scarlett O’Hara, would I have found her mean and selfish, which she was, rather than willfully strong, wonderfully self-absorbed and bullheaded, making it ‘ok’ for Rhett to be in love with her?

The way I see it, writers of stories might have, I am sure, seriously pondered over whose voice they must use: their own ostensibly impassive third person voice or that of one of theicharacters from their yarn. If they were hoping for credibility in borrowing the voice of their characters, hope they realize, the character is as good as written off from anyone’s favorite list and sometimes they might even get hated for ‘telling’.

Although “The Kite Runner” is a beautiful story, quite heart warming and shocking at times, Hassan, to me, was the hero, which is quite likely what Khaled Hosseini wanted to achieve with his first person rendered tale - I really didn’t like Amir at all. Not sure if Hosseini intended THAT effect though! My grouse with Amir was his audacity to get all judgmental about his father with his new found western mindset and the fact that he hoped he could redeem his awful character by bringing back Hassan’s lovely child from the hell-hole he was instrumental in putting him, in the first place. And let’s not forget, the child did more to save Amir's life and soul than the narrator did to save the child.

End of rant!!