Identifying with Characters

[IceMaiden]

There are several I identified with for different reasons.

George - first and more than anyone else I could identify with was George. I had her personality and temperament with all it's good and bad points. I was shy, awkward and uncomfortable around other children (except for my equally Blyton loving cousin), and I didn't make friends easily so I was always on my own, which I didn't really mind as I like my own company. For me it was better to be alone with my imagination than around others who weren't on the same wavelength as me. I was (and still am!) fiery and quick tempered, obstinate, getting difficult and sulky if someone has a go at me, but forgetting about it quickly, I don't bear grudges. Unlike George though I get upset easily and would have difficulty keeping my emotions in check whereas she can swallow them down. And of course I love dogs .

Philip - l love animals. Like Philip, I've had all sorts of pets and brought home all manner of things, frogs, toads, a squirrel that had been hit by a car and sadly died shortly after, slow-worms I've found on the road, a tiny baby mouse, lost racing pigeons and a bird with a broken wing that I carried six miles in a plastic bag on my bike handles .

Snubby - I had Snubby's unfortunate knack of getting into bother by acting without thinking and always clowning around.

Roddy - I can relate all too well with his longing for a dog and the crushed feeling of being told you can't have one.

To some extent I think all or nearly all of Enid's characters I can relate to in some way of another, with the exception of Dinah. I can't imagine not liking or being afraid of nearly every animal and bird and this made her completely unrelatable to me.

[db105]

The only Enid Blyton series I read as a kid were the Famous Five and the Adventure series. I also read some Secret Seven, but I was a bit too old for them when I discovered Blyton, and I never got into that series much. I intensely loved the other two, though.

From the Famous Five, I identified more with Dick. Like Stephen mentioned a few posts ago, I did not see myself as grown enough to be the leader in such adventures like Julian was. And Dick, while not being the leader, was also brave, and liked jokes and having fun.

I liked Julian, though. Even if he was a bit bossy and could talk to adults with confidence, he was still one of the children and had fun like them. When living the adventures in my head, Julian made me feel safe, without feeling like an adult who would look after me but not let me do fun things like fighting smugglers The only times I didn't like him is when he was telling George that she couldn't do the same things that Dick got to do. Who cares whether she's a girl, Julian? She's as brave as any boy, and braver than most.

As you can see, I liked George a lot. I also identified myself with her occasional moodiness and her difficulty to make friends, but also her loyalty to them once she made them. I just thought she was incredibly cool. Definitely "as good as any boy". It's a pity she got less fierce and more tame as the series went on.

Anne was my least favorite. Not that I disliked her, but the things she liked were less interesting for me.

In the Adventure series I guess I identified with Jack the most. Philip would be really cool to have as a friend, but I was not as crazy about animals as to carry many of them around with me all the time. I was not as crazy about birds as Jack, either, but that had less impact on his everyday life. Like Anne, Lucy-Ann was less interesting, too timid and little-girl-like, but I thought it was cool how close Jack and her were. Without parents, they only had each other, so it was nice they were so close and could support each other. Dinah was much more daring than Lucy-Ann, and I liked that, but i could not identify at all with her war against Philip's pets. I could understand Philip and her fighting all the time, though. I fought with my sister all the time too (however, as adults we are quite close).

[Bertie]

There are several I identified with for different reasons.

George - first and more than anyone else I could identify with was George. I had her personality and temperament with all it's good and bad points. I was shy, awkward and uncomfortable around other children (except for my equally Blyton loving cousin), and I didn't make friends easily so I was always on my own, which I didn't really mind as I like my own company. For me it was better to be alone with my imagination than around others who weren't on the same wavelength as me. I was (and still am!) fiery and quick tempered, obstinate, getting difficult and sulky if someone has a go at me, but forgetting about it quickly, I don't bear grudges. Unlike George though I get upset easily and would have difficulty keeping my emotions in check whereas she can swallow them down. And of course I love dogs .

Philip - l love animals. Like Philip, I've had all sorts of pets and brought home all manner of things, frogs, toads, a squirrel that had been hit by a car and sadly died shortly after, slow-worms I've found on the road, a tiny baby mouse, lost racing pigeons and a bird with a broken wing that I carried six miles in a plastic bag on my bike handles .

Snubby - I had Snubby's unfortunate knack of getting into bother by acting without thinking and always clowning around.

Roddy - I can relate all too well with his longing for a dog and the crushed feeling of being told you can't have one.

To some extent I think all or nearly all of Enid's characters I can relate to in some way of another, with the exception of Dinah. I can't imagine not liking or being afraid of nearly every animal and bird and this made her completely unrelatable to me.

Apart from Roddy (just because I don't know who he is - from one of the farm series, maybe?), that's pretty much exactly what I'd have posted!

Snubby - it's not so much that I ever clowned around with physical pranks, but in my early years I had his fondness for verbal jokes and not taking things too serious.

Philip - I've definitely always had the same love of animals as him.
I've always had pet cats, dogs, fish, etc, as well as feeding birds, squirrels and stray animals in the garden. I even currently have 'pet' foxes! (Well, I prepare and put out food for them as they visit the garden every night). And I've helped my fair share of injured birds, mice, hedgehogs...

George - For many of the reasons IceMaiden says. Although, I was probably less like that when I first started reading Enid at a very young age - I probably identified more with Dick (difficult for that not to sound like a double entendre!) But over the following years as I changed I definitely identified more with George's attitude and temperament in the early books, and still do.