FINDING MYSELF THROUGH WRITING, PART 3

If I absolutely declare I am fashioning a character closer to my mentality, there is something to be said about the way he speaks, acts, even dresses. Those who know me are well aware of my utter fascination with Hawaiian shirts. Whereas this was not de rigueur for 1946, the notion of someone dressing to express themselves is analogous.

I am not a veteran. I have never worked in law enforcement. Again, these are specifics of a character that do not relate to a writer declaring an affinity for said character. How then is Harold Bergman like me, and what have I learned about myself from constructing him?

Let’s start simply. He is Jewish. He has great respect for his parents and his religion. He is studious and well read. He has a collection of varied, eccentric, and highly interesting friends. He is loyal and caring. It’s an easy enough start. Those are amenable yet simple attributes and don’t make us any more compadres than college roommates.

That Harold has returned from the war with a shaken belief in how law and order can exist is similar to how I have felt since the Covid pandemic, the extremism of beliefs, and the deep divides created in this country. That he chooses to find some degree of comfort in his religious upbringing yet has difficulty in accepting black and white moral judgments is a quandary I have discovered in myself on several occasions over the last three plus years.

While the circumstances we both face are different, the abyss we stare into is relatively the same. As a private detective, his profession forces him to make discoveries out of the shadows of secrets, finding resolutions (or truths) to meet a certain end. All I can do is write and exert my creativity in the small hope of finding similar truths.

Despite the circles we both have in our lives, these paths of discovery are often travelled alone. They have to be, largely because no one can tell us what we need to know. Like waking after a long sleep or emerging from a tunnel into the light, the kind of profounder revelations being sought require us to dig deep into places many of us would not choose to go into willingly.

Harold will sacrifice on this journey. While I do not consider him to be a mythic hero anymore than I would apply that nomenclature to myself, the answers are sought wherever they may be found.

ADDENDUM: My cats, Sir PounceAlot (the orange manx) and Lady Mittens (the tuxedo manx) were featured in the last blog post. This is because they will be featured in the new series. In short, Harold Bergman has these two exact feline roommates and finds peace in their presence. This is not unlike myself. Needless to say, the cats are tremendously excited.