Y’all, it has pretty much taken me FOREVER to come up with a good genre to pick characters from for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday. Like, I didn’t want to do YA because I didn’t want to pick the same exact characters as everyone else. And then my mind kept blanking out. Then I was like OH YEAH I LOVE THE CLASSICS, I should do that! And I did!
1. Ms. Havisham from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Why?:Look bro, she has a rotting wedding cake and wedding dress. Plus the way she dangles Estella over Pip is kind of hilarious — I mean if you are an awful person like me you will find it hilarious.
2. Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Why?: You guys, Atticus is morally upstanding and sort of the person that we should all be. I always loved that he fought for the right thing, regardless of the trouble it could potentially bring him. Like, he tells Scout how to be a good person and then basically follows through on it — instead of saying something and doing another. I just really love and admire that.
3. Jo March from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Why?: Okay, so some of Jo’s life choices are questionable, especially concerning Laurie. HOWEVER, she is awesome and fierce and dare I say, kind of feminist. Like yo, she gets a job. And she writes. And she’s just the most awesome March sister, although I liked Amy a lot too, even though everyone else seems to hate her.
4. Anne Shirley from Anne Of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Why?: Girl has imagination in spades. She’s also kind to others — I especially loved her interactions with Matthew. She gets Diana drunk. She cracks a slate over Gilbert’s head. Also, Anne is smart as a whip. AND she actually uses her smarts. She’s kind of a life idol.
5. Eponine from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Why?: Eponine is all a spirit animal for all of us. Well, sort of. I mean, she experiences unrequited love which pretty much everyone has been through. ALSO, she has the worst parents ever, which blows. And she does questionable things as a kid — namely be mean to Cosette. Whatevs, Eponine I love your face. Especially because I’ve read the book. And yes, I actually did cry during THAT PART in the book.
6. Dickon Sowerby from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Why?: Dickon is kind of otherworldly. I mean he isn’t an alien, but he charms the animals. Freakin’ birds like him and it seems to me that birds don’t like just anybody. Anyways, I love Dickon because the pages where he shows up are an utter delight.
7. Scarlet O’Hara from Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Why?: Oh, Girl. I know people love to hate Scarlet. But look, lady is tough when there’s a crisis. Instead of dying or whatever while Atlanta is burning, girl SURVIVES. And yes, okay she’s kind of a flirt, but so what. If you’ve got it, flaunt it. And okay, yes the way she treats Rhett sucks, but I say it’s because she is product of her time. While I don’t get the big damn deal about Ashley, I suppose I can get why Scarlet was so hung up on him. And sigh, just typing all this makes me want a re-read.
8. Edmond Dantes from The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Why?: So, some people are lazy about getting revenge. Not Edmond. Yo, he like escapes prison by pretending to be dead and so they throw his carcass out and he floats away. Then, he ends up super rich because he found his friend’s treasure. And omg, revenge is freakin sweet you guys.
9. Hercule Poirot from Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Why?: He’s all logical and smart and awesome. The end.
10. Huckleberry Finn from Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Why?: Because Huck had the courage to run away from his rat bastard father who wanted to steal his money. Also because his antics cracked me up during the entire book.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke And The Bookish.
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Scarlett O’Hara is my Spirit Bitch and Anne is my Spirit Animal. I approve of this list. Both ladies rock my socks.
And can I say that I am SO thrilled to see HBC act her pants off as Mrs. Havisham?
2. Also, Atticus Finch is Gregory Peck, who is pretty delicious. Mmmm. Gregory Peck.
3. Jo March: Yes! I love her. Although, honestly, I was totally in that group of people who thought the professor was mad boring, and hoped she could make it work with Laurie, back before the dating Amy. Sigh.
4. Umm, of course to Anne Shirley, because she’s freaking the best. Also, I love that that gif exists. Thank you, internet!
6. Dicken! Fun story: I grew up watching the adaptation where he died in the war, but the other kid grew up to be a young Colin Firth. So….you win some, you lose some.
7. OMG, don’t hate me, but I freaking hate Scarlett O’Hara. Actually, I hated everyone in that movie. I turned it off at the disc change and pretended they all died in the fire that was Atlanta.
8. Edmond Dantes! YES. He’s such a badass. And I also love that he’s so morally ambiguous. Like, you root for him, but he’s also a jerk. Revenge IS SWEET. I love how most books are all “revenge will ultimately be unsatisfying,” and I’m like NAWWW.
10. BAHAHAHA, that picture. I die. Also, I always hated Huck Finn, but, you know. There’s an audio of this book read by Elijah Wood, and he does a really good job. Just fyi.
I love this post! We have a lot of the same loves from classics. I have adored Anne Shirley, Scarlett O’Hara, Edmond Dantes, Jo March and Huckleberry Finn for years. Your gif of Anne Shirley has me cracking up by the way. Love that. I also am pretty obsessed with TKAM and love Atticus, although my favorite character is Scout. I named my dog after her! And Ms. Havisham–brilliant! She’s so creepy and awesome…definitely one of my favorite characters from a Dickens story.
I’m reading Gone With the Wind right now and LOVE Scarlet! Granted, I liked her tons from the movie, but seriously, she is such a complex and fun character to read. And Jo March = total hero. Great list and topic!
This is such a great list that you’ve basically made me want to push all of my YA and other books away and just read classics for awhile. I have to say that Anne Shirley is my favorite on this list because I read these books along with my Grandma when I was little and have read them a ton since then, and of course I just loved the movies. When I was younger, I was jealous of Anne because she got Gilbert and I didn’t because he is sooo dreamy.
Great list! Gotta love the classics, though I’ve never been much of a Scarlet O’Hara fan. 😀
My TTT
I LOVE that you included the gif of Anne breaking a slate over Gilbert’s head. That’s one of my favorite scenes! And if I had to choose my top 10 favorite characters from classics, she would definitely be on the list. Along with Jo March from Little Women. Although.. I still think she should’ve ended up with Laurie. Especially if Laurie looks like Christian Bale (I used to love the movie.) Anyway, great list!!
this entire list is true & awesome & made me laugh. “some people are lazy about getting revenge. Not Edmond.” ha! love it, great list 🙂 my favorite is Anne
DICKON. Ugh, the feeeeeeeeelings I have about that boy (not for him, about him). The Secret Garden is one of my favorite stories of all time.
Ditto for Anne Shirley. And Hercule Poirot just makes me giggle. I wish I’d picked classics for my list now, your list is great!
I love Eponine, so I was excited to see her on your list! I also love Atticus, To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite books! 🙂 My TTT is Favorite Characters from Fairy Tales/Fairy Tale Retellings: http://aliceinreaderland.com/2013/02/18/favorite-characters/
Alice @ Alice in Readerland
Okay, clearly I need to read a few more classics. I have read some of these though. Yeah, Atticus Finch – he’s totally one to emulate. I always sort of had a crush on Huck Finn. Is that weird? Oh my gosh, and Dickon! Yeah totally crushing on him still to this day 🙂
I still haven’t read Little Women. I really need to though.
This is a ridiculously wonderful list! I love Jo, Scarlet, and Poirot as well. 😀
I shamefully admit to not having read many classics and I really should try to make the time for them, but that doesn’t take away from the awesomeness of this list. I LOVE IT!! And that Scarlet gif is making me want to go home and pop in the dvd of GWTW.
I LOVED Anne of GG – she was so fiery and outspoken yet kind and generous all at the same time. I really need to re-read that series one day, and read more classics!
Great list 😀
This list ROCKS, girl. Scarlet is really a complicated, awesome character who I think EVERYONE hated at first, but she just grows on you because SHE grows in some ways. And awww, Huck! I read Huck Finn in high school and it was hilarious at times, sad at others, and such a BRAVE story.
Dude, is that Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham? Oh man, it IS. HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS VERSION? I LOVE HBC. Miss Havisham is such a sad, wily character.
Fantastic list, April!
My Top Ten
How could I forget Atticus and Scout??? Man, I feel like a dummy. They are so awesome.
And this list just makes me want to read so many of the classics that I haven’t gotten to yet, like Three Musketeers and Huck Finn and Les Mis. Thanks for the extra motivation there 🙂
Ms. Havisham is probably my favorite character from a classic ever! Great list!
SUCH A GOOD LIST! I was kicking myself that I didn’t have more originality for my genre choice. I love yours, and the gifs are pure gold. Also: totally agree on #2, 3, 4 & 6. Stellar.
WOW! What a great list. I’ve only read one book out of all of those (To Kill a Mockingbird). I definitely need to get caught up on my classics!
I read a lot of these books in school — but some on my own. It’s like an ongoing thing though — because I like the classics and want to be considered well read, I make a super effort to read them.
I love your use of gifs! And I also love your description of Edmund Dantes, but…wasn’t revenge only sweet in the movie? Didn’t he totally lose everything in the book, and that was the whole moral, that revenge is not worth it? (I will admit that I’ve only ever read the Children’s Illustrated Classics edition…)
Naw, he actually gets a happy ending and pretty much gives his fortune to Mercedes’s son and then rides off into the sunset with his lover. Funny that the children’s illustrated classics edition teaches a different lesson, lol.
You picked Anne. And Edmond Dantes. AND POIROT! We must be friends.
My TTT: http://shelversanon.blogspot.com/2013/02/top-10-tuesday-favorite-humorous.html
YES! I will happily be your friend. <3333
Uhm, so this is just a drive-by post to say: I LOVE THIS LIST. All of it, yes yes yes! April, you are super awesome and I love you very hard right now. Why didn’t I think of this?!
Thanks! <3333
I remember reading Anne of Green Gables and watching the movie when I was little. You can’t be Canadian without reading those books 🙂 I love your list!
Sometimes I wish I was Canadian, as you guys can lay claim to Anne Shirley.
SCARLETTTT.
Also loving seeing JTT in any form in your post.
Ha ha, JTT deserves all of the love, always.
Jo March. MY HEART. best march sister.
Word. Jo wins all the prizes.
I agree with the list so much! I do like an unlikeable character in fiction. There must be a psychological reason for this. Perhaps acting out on anti-social fantasies through fiction? All the nasty stuff we would never get away with or consider doing for real. Or they are just fun to read!
I like that point — about unlikeable characters and acting on anti-social fantasies. Granted, I don’t really have them a lot. However, I did pick Ms. Havisham because she cracks me up and I am super immature like that hahaha.
AND YES! The villains are SO much fun to read.
This is list soooooo A+. And it makes me wan to go reread all the books. I love that you included Poirot and Miss H. And Atticus <3 And EPONINE, YES. Maybe it's masochistic of me, but I always reread her scenes in the book because yeah, the musical is wonderful, but the scenes in the book are so good and sad and also make me want to weep.
I also really approve of your gif usage.
I love the fact that Anne Shirley is on this list, because seriously, she’s got to be one of my all-time favorite characters in a classic. She’s just got such spunk and such heart… and now I want to reread this.
Also, yay for Jo March (who is a total inspiration) and for Dickon (who is such a fun character to read about!)