Lesson 1: Favorite Characters and Why

    Initially I thought that I was at a disadvantage in completing this assignment.  To choose a character that has impressed me through the years proved difficult for a variety of reasons, the most important of which are:  A) I've not read fiction in quite a few years, so nothing was fresh in my mind, and B) I can get quite involved in a story when reading it and then find, upon finishing that, apart from a few ideas, passages, or "scenes" which linger in my thoughts, I am prone to retain only generalities about the work (i.e. the fact that it enthralled me, was well-written, gave me fodder to think on, etc).

    That said, I decided that two characters from so long ago still make me smile if I pause long enough to reminisce.  Kilgore Trout and Winnie-the-Pooh (more from Benjamin Hoff's analysis than the original A.A. Milne works).  Both appeal to me because of their unorthodox and non-linear attributes.

    Kilgore Trout is a recurring character in many Kurt Vonnegut novels (which is the first of many reasons he sticks with me), and Winnie-the-Pooh is the brainchild of A.A. Milne, and the subject of a much later work by the aforementioned Benjamin Hoff called "The Tao of Pooh".  The origins alone, of both characters make them interesting to me.  One is a fictional tribute to the author's friend:  Kilgore Trout.  The other, Pooh, a character bourne of the guilt Milne felt for not having spent, in his estimation, enough time with his son, Christopher, the basis for Christopher Robin, whom all of those in the 100 acre wood rally to whenever he makes an appearance.

    I like Kilgore Trout because he is a dynamic character whose function changes from novel to novel.  Sometimes he is simply a catalyst for the main characters and sometimes he plays a lead role.  Many times Vonnegut sites Trout's novels (in summary) to illustrate a point or for purposes of foreshadowing.  These aspects empower Kilgore Trout  to be more of a tool for the author than a traditional character might allow...Endlessly interesting to me.  Even his physical description and certain aspects of his life change from one work to the next.

    Quite the opposite, Pooh never changes.  He is simple, constant.  He "hasn't much brain," according to his friend Piglet, "but he never comes to any harm.  He does silly things and they turn out right."  Naive and innocent, Winnie-the-Pooh is purity in a cast of characters who run the gambit of everything that constitutes us, taken to extremes.

    In short, I like these two because they serve the function of characters, but take it another step.  One serves also as an enhanced literary tool (Kilgore Trout), and the other, an extreme representation of a universal ideal-- A caricature (Pooh).  Hopefully this satisfies the assignment, as I've learned something already...I've never really considered what defines a "character" or what makes one memorable.