I really like how Dickens introduces reoccurring characters beforehand. The convict is a prime example. He is briefly introduced in the beginning and will take a greater role later on in the story. Herbert Pocket and Mr. Jaggers were also presented to the readers before they became major characters. This piques the curiosity of the reader and gives an outline of certain characters before they become colored by Pip's thoughts. It also makes the reader feel closer to Pip, because all the significant instances in his life are related to us (sometimes too many of them!).
It kind of irritates me when the protagonist meets up with someone they knew before their story was written. Even if the detailed background is narrated by the protagonist, it makes me feel like this new character is disconnected with me. Maybe I'm totally crazy but I feel like the protagonist is hiding information from me, and I don't trust them anymore. Am I the only one who gets so attached to characters?
It kind of irritates me when the protagonist meets up with someone they knew before their story was written. Even if the detailed background is narrated by the protagonist, it makes me feel like this new character is disconnected with me. Maybe I'm totally crazy but I feel like the protagonist is hiding information from me, and I don't trust them anymore. Am I the only one who gets so attached to characters?
Shruthi, I totally get where you are coming from. If I am not introduced to the character at the same time as the protagonist I feel like I'm missing in on some big joke, or something. Even in petty cliche books (like the Clique series) I feel this way. I don't like the disconnection and it makes me aggravated.
ReplyDeleteI know! Even if it's, like you said, not a very important book, you still want to know everybody. For example, I started reading The Help yesterday, when I was trying to procrastinate on this book (fyi: not a good idea. I'm already like 200 pgs. into The Help, whereas I've only read about 6 chapters of GE this weekend)and there was a character introduced named Celia Foote. The author did a wonderful job of throwing her name around earlier in some conversation that the maid overheard. The reader felt the same confusion the maid did as she tried to remember the name "Celia Foote", because we'd heard (or read) the name in the same context the maid did. I just grew more attached to the maid then.
ReplyDeleteI can see where you're coming from. I also find it hard to become connected to brand new characters. I feel a lot closer to characters that have changed because I feel like I've changed with them. Bringing in new characters just throws me off. But I also like the way the Dickens does the kind of preview of characters before actually delving into their characters.
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