Most Iconic Characters of Fiction

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

I'm curious why everyone chose who they did. So, what are everyone's reasons?

 

For my picks:

 

Lenny Small (Of Mice And Men) – Between playing sports, and working in lawncare and construction, I have met many many characters who fit the persona’s written into this novel. Lenny, the not so intelligent strong-man, George, the gruff-yet-compassionate individual, Curly, the classic Napoleon complex, Candy, the worn out and beaten down friend to everyone and doormat to some, and Slim, the natural leader with a hard work ethic and blunt-but-admirable honesty and truthfulness. Lenny just sticks out the most to me.

 

Miss Havisham (Great Expectations) – What is more iconic than a spinster, once jilted at the altar, who has turned into a hermit-like old miser, and actually spends their life in their decades-old wedding dress living in their dilapidated old mansion??

 

The Duke & The King (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) – Thinking about them, I don’t particularly have much reasoning for these two…which might make reason to consider changing them. I just always think of these two when I think about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

Finny (A Separate Peace) – The relationship between Phineas and Gene reminds me of several relationships I’ve been a part of throughout my life. In most cases, admittedly, I’ve played the role of Finny, although I don’t particularly “see myself in him”. I just think the relationships/friendships between opposite personalities is very iconic, I suppose.

 

Kat (All Quiet On The Western Front) – Much like the mad priest in The Count Of Monte Cristo, Kat is kind of crazy, but very endearing. Who else could tell you that you’re best off to kill a man in hand to hand combat by wielding your army shovel like a sword and chopping at your enemy in between their shoulder and spine, and then walk away as a congenial character?

Scout Finch (To Kill A Mockingbird) – When I think “tomboy”, I think of Jean Louise Finch.

 

Nick Adams (Various Hemingway Shorts) – I’d call pretty much any character based on Ernest Hemingway iconic.

Holden Caulfield (Catcher In The Rye) – Holden Caulfield is teenaged angst.

 

The Mad Priest (The Count Of Monte Cristo) – The priest is both crazy and wise, stubborn and helpful. He also offers all he knows without compensation. He’s just always been a very memorable character in my mind.

 

Simon (Lord Of The Flies) – The Christ Figure in one of my favorite books, and one of the most classic pieces of 20th century fiction. Hard to call that anything but iconic.

[75center]

Chip Hilton

Nancy Drew

Hardy Brothers

[Habib]

For my picks:

 

Lenny Small (Of Mice And Men) – Between playing sports, and working in lawncare and construction, I have met many many characters who fit the persona’s written into this novel. Lenny, the not so intelligent strong-man, George, the gruff-yet-compassionate individual, Curly, the classic Napoleon complex, Candy, the worn out and beaten down friend to everyone and doormat to some, and Slim, the natural leader with a hard work ethic and blunt-but-admirable honesty and truthfulness. Lenny just sticks out the most to me.

 

Miss Havisham (Great Expectations) – What is more iconic than a spinster, once jilted at the altar, who has turned into a hermit-like old miser, and actually spends their life in their decades-old wedding dress living in their dilapidated old mansion??

 

The Duke & The King (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) – Thinking about them, I don’t particularly have much reasoning for these two…which might make reason to consider changing them. I just always think of these two when I think about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

Finny (A Separate Peace) – The relationship between Phineas and Gene reminds me of several relationships I’ve been a part of throughout my life. In most cases, admittedly, I’ve played the role of Finny, although I don’t particularly “see myself in him”. I just think the relationships/friendships between opposite personalities is very iconic, I suppose.

 

Kat (All Quiet On The Western Front) – Much like the mad priest in The Count Of Monte Cristo, Kat is kind of crazy, but very endearing. Who else could tell you that you’re best off to kill a man in hand to hand combat by wielding your army shovel like a sword and chopping at your enemy in between their shoulder and spine, and then walk away as a congenial character?

Scout Finch (To Kill A Mockingbird) – When I think “tomboy”, I think of Jean Louise Finch.

 

Nick Adams (Various Hemingway Shorts) – I’d call pretty much any character based on Ernest Hemingway iconic.

Holden Caulfield (Catcher In The Rye) – Holden Caulfield is teenaged angst.

 

The Mad Priest (The Count Of Monte Cristo) – The priest is both crazy and wise, stubborn and helpful. He also offers all he knows without compensation. He’s just always been a very memorable character in my mind.

 

Simon (Lord Of The Flies) – The Christ Figure in one of my favorite books, and one of the most classic pieces of 20th century fiction. Hard to call that anything but iconic.

 

:thumb:

 

I'll start with Raskolnikov. He's Dostoevsky's best character from his best novel, and I regard Dostoevsky as the best of the Russian novelists, perhaps of all novelists. If you were going to read one book of Russian literature it should be Crime and Punishment. And you would follow Raskolnikov through his inner struggle over his nihilistic philosophy, to his hopeless lot that leads him to begin acting upon it and justifying it, to his eventual paranoia induced terror. Which is all a thoroughly detached way of saying that you will be compelled.

[okie1]

RAMBO!! I even got the knife!

[Voice of Reason]

Bilbo Baggins?

 

Questioning who he is or the choice? I will assume the choice because everyone knows the Hobbit, right? I like Bilbo for much the same reason that others would say Frodo. Unassuming character who was challenged and pushed to achieve beyond anything he could have imagined and was able to succeed against all odds.

[5wide]

Questioning who he is or the choice? I will assume the choice because everyone knows the Hobbit, right? I like Bilbo for much the same reason that others would say Frodo. Unassuming character who was challenged and pushed to achieve beyond anything he could have imagined and was able to succeed against all odds.

 

Surprised he hadn't been mentioned yet considering the Hobbit's popularity. In all honesty, he probably wouldn't make my list. I didn't enjoy the Hobbit as much as most people seemed to.

[Voice of Reason]

Surprised he hadn't been mentioned yet considering the Hobbit's popularity. In all honesty, he probably wouldn't make my list. I didn't enjoy the Hobbit as much as most people seemed to.

 

Ok, gotcha. I mentioned him in post #26 so I thought you were questioning why I mentioned him.

[5wide]

Ok, gotcha. I mentioned him in post #26 so I thought you were questioning why I mentioned him.

 

Didn't see it. Sorry. :thumb:

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Alice – Alice In Wonderland

Andy Dufresne – The Shawshank Redemption

Aslan – Chronicles of Narnia

Atticus Finch – To Kill A Mockingbird

Bartleby – Bartleby; The Scrivener

Boo Radley – To Kill A Mockingbird

Captain Ahab – Moby Dick

Captain Nemo – Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under The Sea

Charles Darnay – A Tale Of Two Cities

Daenerys Targaryen – A Song of Ice and Fire

Don Quixote – The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha

Dorian Gray – The Picture of Dorian Gray

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Ebenezer Scrooge – A Christmas Carol

Falstaff – Henry IV

Finny – A Separate Peace

Francie Nolan – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Frodo Baggins – The Hobbit

Gandalf the Grey – The Hobbit/Lord Of The Rings

Hamlet – Hamlet

Hannibal Lecter – Various Thomas Harris

Harry Potter – Harry Potter Series

Henry Chinaski – Various Bukowski Stories

Holden Caulfield – Catcher In The Rye

Howard Roark – The Fountainhead

Huckleberry Finn – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Ignatius J. Reilly – A Confederacy of Dunces

James Bond – 007 Series

Jay Gatsby – The Great Gatsby

Jean Valjean & Javert – Les Misérables

Jon Snow – A Song of Ice and Fire

Kat – All Quiet On The Western Front

Kurtz – Heart Of Darkness

Lenny Smalls – Of Mice And Men

Long John Silver – Treasure Island

Madame Defarge – A Tale Of Two Cities

Miss Havisham – Great Expectations

Nick Adams – Various Hemingway Shorts

Oliver Twist – Oliver Twist

Pony Boy – The Outsiders

Raoul Duke – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Robinson Crusoe – The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov – Crime & Punishment

Roland Deschain – The Dark Tower

Romeo and Juliet – Rome and Juliet

Scarlett O'Hara & Rhett Butler – Gone With The Wind

Scout Finch – To Kill A Mockingbird

Severus Snape – Harry Potter

Sherlock Holmes – The Canon of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes & Watson – The Canon of Sherlock Holmes

Simon – Lord Of The Flies

The Creature – Frankenstein

The Duke & The King – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Fool – Twelfth Night

The Judge - Blood Meridian

The Mad Priest – The Count Of Monte Cristo

The Three Musketeers – The Three Musketeers

Tom Sawyer – The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

Tyrion Lannister – A Song of Ice and Fire

[hoopboy]

For some reason when I first saw the title of this thread one character came to mind and that was Joker. Of course we're not supposed to include comic book characters, but to me, he is one of the most iconic.

[Voice of Reason]

Alice – Alice In Wonderland

Andy Dufresne – The Shawshank Redemption

Aslan – Chronicles of Narnia

Atticus Finch – To Kill A Mockingbird

Bartleby – Bartleby; The Scrivener

Boo Radley – To Kill A Mockingbird

Captain Ahab – Moby Dick

Captain Nemo – Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under The Sea

Charles Darnay – A Tale Of Two Cities

Daenerys Targaryen – A Song of Ice and Fire

Don Quixote – The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha

Dorian Gray – The Picture of Dorian Gray

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Ebenezer Scrooge – A Christmas Carol

Falstaff – Henry IV

Finny – A Separate Peace

Francie Nolan – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Frodo Baggins – The Hobbit

Gandalf the Grey – The Hobbit/Lord Of The Rings

Hamlet – Hamlet

Hannibal Lecter – Various Thomas Harris

Harry Potter – Harry Potter Series

Henry Chinaski – Various Bukowski Stories

Holden Caulfield – Catcher In The Rye

Howard Roark – The Fountainhead

Huckleberry Finn – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Ignatius J. Reilly – A Confederacy of Dunces

James Bond – 007 Series

Jay Gatsby – The Great Gatsby

Jean Valjean & Javert – Les Misérables

Jon Snow – A Song of Ice and Fire

Kat – All Quiet On The Western Front

Kurtz – Heart Of Darkness

Lenny Smalls – Of Mice And Men

Long John Silver – Treasure Island

Madame Defarge – A Tale Of Two Cities

Miss Havisham – Great Expectations

Nick Adams – Various Hemingway Shorts

Oliver Twist – Oliver Twist

Pony Boy – The Outsiders

Raoul Duke – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Robinson Crusoe – The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov – Crime & Punishment

Roland Deschain – The Dark Tower

Romeo and Juliet – Rome and Juliet

Scarlett O'Hara & Rhett Butler – Gone With The Wind

Scout Finch – To Kill A Mockingbird

Severus Snape – Harry Potter

Sherlock Holmes – The Canon of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes & Watson – The Canon of Sherlock Holmes

Simon – Lord Of The Flies

The Creature – Frankenstein

The Duke & The King – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Fool – Twelfth Night

The Judge - Blood Meridian

The Mad Priest – The Count Of Monte Cristo

The Three Musketeers – The Three Musketeers

Tom Sawyer – The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

Tyrion Lannister – A Song of Ice and Fire

 

You left out Bilbo Baggins of the Hobbit, and Frodo Baggins is in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, not the Hobbit.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

You left out Bilbo Baggins of the Hobbit, and Frodo Baggins is in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, not the Hobbit.

 

Correct you are, sir. My mistake.

[shamrock fan]

I'd have to spend a bit of time on this one to do it justice, but off the top of my head:

 

Elizabeth Bennett

Dorian Gray

Lily Bart

Dick Diver and/or Jay Gatsby

Lisbeth Salander

[Dlbdonn]

Paul Atreides , Valentine Michael Smith .

[Bluto]

Atticus Finch - TKAM

Tom Sawyer - Tom Sawyer

Scrooge - A Christmas Carol

Aslan - Chronicles of Narnia

Jack Ryan - Tom Clancy's books

Jason Bourne - Ludlum's Bourne series