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Questions tagged [character-analysis]

Questions relating to the analysis of characters in works of literature: for example, their traits, construction, or other aspects. This tag should be used together with any relevant work, series, or author tags.

30 votes
4 answers
21k views

In Brave New World, what caste is Lenina Crowne?

In Brave New World, there is an extensive caste system. However, Lenina's caste is never explicitly pointed out. She is important to many of the male characters in the book, each belonging to a ...
soundslikeodd's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
1k views

Why don't people in the Chronicles of Narnia have trouble "transitioning" back to their old life after extended times in other worlds?

In The Chronicles of Narnia, people often spend weeks, months, or even decades in other worlds. They return to their old life at the exact instant that they left as if they were never gone. For ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
5k views

Why do Jem and Scout call their father Atticus?

My question is not why they call their father Atticus as much as why he lets them do this, and what this says about their characters. Where I come from--and, I think, in 1930s Alabama--it is not ...
CHEESE's user avatar
  • 4,532
13 votes
2 answers
1k views

Is John Milton's Lucifer a tragic hero?

Loosely related: Was Paradise Lost the first major work of literature to give "sympathy for the devil"? In Paradise Lost, Lucifer/Satan appears to have at least some heroic characteristics, ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
10 votes
4 answers
15k views

Why did Shams refuse to sleep with Kimya?

Towards the end of Elif Şafak's The Forty Rules of Love, specifically the book-within-a-book Sweet Blasphemy which is largely a retelling of the real-life story of Shams and Rumi, Shams gets married ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
  • 74.1k
9 votes
1 answer
569 views

Should Go Set a Watchman change our view of Atticus defending Tom Robinson?

I do realize that the passage of To Kill a Mockingbird where Atticus defended Tom Robinson has been heavily analyzed elsewhere at this point. However, it seems like most people got the impression that ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
3k views

Why is the Emperor Beyond the Sea named that?

Closely related: Why does the Emperor-Over-the-Sea play such a small role in the Chronicles of Narnia? Why is the Emperor Beyond The Sea in The Chronicles of Narnia named that? What sea is he beyond, ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
486 views

How should we view Dan Conway?

Dan Conway, head of the Phoenix-Durango in Atlas Shrugged, was evidently a superb executive. He also receives (largely) positive treatment in the novel. However, the book also says that he initially ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
619 views

JKR says that Hermione shouldn't have married Ron. Is this correct?

In an interview, JKR says that Hermione would not have married Ron: She told the magazine: "I wrote the Hermione-Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfilment. That's how it was conceived, really....
Interesting Question's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
292 views

Portrayal of Henry Bolingbroke through different Shakespeare plays

King Henry IV of England, also known as Henry Bolingbroke, appears in three Shakespeare plays, with two of them being named after him. In Richard II, he can be seen as the main antagonist of the play, ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
87 views

Do the young women and men of the Decameron represent the Virtues and sections of the soul?

The Wikipedia page on the Decameron claims that: Many details of the Decameron are infused with a medieval sense of numerological and mystical significance.[9] For example, it is widely believed[by ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
  • 74.1k
35 votes
1 answer
21k views

Is there any textual evidence to support that Dumbledore was gay?

JK Rowling announced in 2007 to an audience at Carnegie Hall that Albus Dumbledore was in fact, gay and always had been... Q: Did Dumbledore, who believed in the prevailing power of love, ever fall ...
Skooba's user avatar
  • 4,187
28 votes
2 answers
5k views

Is Sherlock Holmes religious?

In this question, it is established that Sherlock Holmes, from the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was asexual and in explaining that it is stated that he showed very little emotion in general. This ...
Benjamin's user avatar
  • 6,233
21 votes
0 answers
934 views

Are Frog and Toad more than just friends?

In a 1977 interview with The Lion and the Unicorn, Arnold Lobel said: You know, if an adult has an unhappy love affair, he writes about it. He exorcises it out of himself, perhaps, by writing a novel ...
BESW's user avatar
  • 5,032
19 votes
2 answers
2k views

Does the description of Eustace's parents fit some known stereotype?

In the opening paragraph of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C. S. Lewis introduces us to the (at this point in the story) singularly unlikeable character of Eustace Clarence Scrubb. About his parents, ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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