What Character's Death Broke Your Heart?
I recently asked this question on Facebook — What fictional character's death affected you forever? I got an amazing response. People recall with vivid clarity the characters in novels whose deaths left them feeling bereft, even years after reading the book.
The answers were wonderfully varied. Beth March in Little Women. Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities. Charlotte, the spider. Ned Stark in A Game of Thrones. People cited many characters who died because of an injustice in society. Bambi's mother (sport hunting). Lenny in Of Mice and Men (mistreatment of the handicapped). Anna Karenina (society's hypocrisy). It strengthens my belief that readers hunger for stories about issues of justice, and the valor of dying well.
It's not just readers who are so deeply affected. As an author, every time I've killed a beloved character in my books, I wept. The poet Robert Frost said it eloquently: "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader." In other words, as an author I must be shaken by a character's death myself if I am to render it faithfully to the reader.
Mind you, I've also blithely killed several hundred minor characters. I've garrotted them, burnt them at the stake, slit their throats, cut off their heads, drowned them, disemboweled them, and slaughtered them in battle. (Hey, Tudor times were savage.) My husband warns that a special purgatory awaits me where the souls of all the characters I've murdered will haunt me for eternity.
Sometimes, readers don't let authors get away with it. In 1893 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed Sherlock Holmes by plunging him over a mountain ledge, locked in a death-struggle with his arch-enemy Moriarty. Holmes's fans were horrified. Many took to the street wearing black armbands of mourning. Conan Doyle heeded their call. He resuscitated Holmes, who starred in later books in all his arrogant glory.
What fictional deaths broke my heart? Mariko in James Clavell's magnificent Shogun. Robbie and Cecilia in Ian McEwan's Atonement. Gus in Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove.
Death in fiction is potent — and important. This reply to my Facebook question came from Mary Tod, a new writer to watch (check out her moving debut novel Unravelled): "Julian Friedman gave a TED talk in which he said that stories allow us to rehearse our fears — perhaps this is one reason why the death of a compelling, empathetic character remains with us. We've rehearsed the fear and the tragedy of losing someone we love."
Three kinds of fictional characters' deaths shatter us the most:
1. The Innocent Friend
The most dangerous relationship a character can have is being the best friend of the hero. If the hero has been reluctant to accept his destiny, or his responsibilities, the death of his friend is often a turning point, galvanizing him to take the next steps and the necessary risks. By his friend's death the hero is changed, made stronger, grows up.
2. The Victim of an Evil World
When we shudder at Fantine's death in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables we shudder at the hellish poverty that killed her. In 1916 union leader Eugene V. Debs compared Fantine's sufferings to those of abandoned women in his own day. He wrote: "The brief, bitter, blasted life of Fantine epitomizes the ghastly story of the persecuted, perishing Fantines of modern society." Other such victims: Robbie and Cecelia in Atonement lose their lives pitifully in the gruesome grind of war. In A Game of Thrones, Ned Stark is executed in a naked political power grab.
3. The Self-Sacrificing Hero
When Mariko, the courageous noblewomen in Shogun, goes to Osaka Castle to obtain the release of innocent hostages, she knows she is going to her death. She sacrifices her life to save Toranaga from his enemies and restore peace. In A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton takes his awe-inspiring walk to the guillotine with selfless resolve, sacrificing his life so that Lucie, the woman he loves, can be reunited with her husband.
These are deaths of valor - to me the most moving of all. These characters, fully aware, accept death as the price of saving the people they love. That's powerful stuff. What reader is not moved to ask herself in admiration: Could I do the same?
So tell me, what character's death broke your heart?
***
Giveaway! Win a copy of my new novel The Queen's Exiles. My publisher is giving away 25 advance copies. Enter for a chance to win! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
***
Visit my website: http://www.barbarakyle.com/
The answers were wonderfully varied. Beth March in Little Women. Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities. Charlotte, the spider. Ned Stark in A Game of Thrones. People cited many characters who died because of an injustice in society. Bambi's mother (sport hunting). Lenny in Of Mice and Men (mistreatment of the handicapped). Anna Karenina (society's hypocrisy). It strengthens my belief that readers hunger for stories about issues of justice, and the valor of dying well.
It's not just readers who are so deeply affected. As an author, every time I've killed a beloved character in my books, I wept. The poet Robert Frost said it eloquently: "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader." In other words, as an author I must be shaken by a character's death myself if I am to render it faithfully to the reader.
Mind you, I've also blithely killed several hundred minor characters. I've garrotted them, burnt them at the stake, slit their throats, cut off their heads, drowned them, disemboweled them, and slaughtered them in battle. (Hey, Tudor times were savage.) My husband warns that a special purgatory awaits me where the souls of all the characters I've murdered will haunt me for eternity.
Sometimes, readers don't let authors get away with it. In 1893 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed Sherlock Holmes by plunging him over a mountain ledge, locked in a death-struggle with his arch-enemy Moriarty. Holmes's fans were horrified. Many took to the street wearing black armbands of mourning. Conan Doyle heeded their call. He resuscitated Holmes, who starred in later books in all his arrogant glory.
What fictional deaths broke my heart? Mariko in James Clavell's magnificent Shogun. Robbie and Cecilia in Ian McEwan's Atonement. Gus in Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove.
Death in fiction is potent — and important. This reply to my Facebook question came from Mary Tod, a new writer to watch (check out her moving debut novel Unravelled): "Julian Friedman gave a TED talk in which he said that stories allow us to rehearse our fears — perhaps this is one reason why the death of a compelling, empathetic character remains with us. We've rehearsed the fear and the tragedy of losing someone we love."
Three kinds of fictional characters' deaths shatter us the most:
1. The Innocent Friend
The most dangerous relationship a character can have is being the best friend of the hero. If the hero has been reluctant to accept his destiny, or his responsibilities, the death of his friend is often a turning point, galvanizing him to take the next steps and the necessary risks. By his friend's death the hero is changed, made stronger, grows up.
2. The Victim of an Evil World
When we shudder at Fantine's death in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables we shudder at the hellish poverty that killed her. In 1916 union leader Eugene V. Debs compared Fantine's sufferings to those of abandoned women in his own day. He wrote: "The brief, bitter, blasted life of Fantine epitomizes the ghastly story of the persecuted, perishing Fantines of modern society." Other such victims: Robbie and Cecelia in Atonement lose their lives pitifully in the gruesome grind of war. In A Game of Thrones, Ned Stark is executed in a naked political power grab.
3. The Self-Sacrificing Hero
When Mariko, the courageous noblewomen in Shogun, goes to Osaka Castle to obtain the release of innocent hostages, she knows she is going to her death. She sacrifices her life to save Toranaga from his enemies and restore peace. In A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton takes his awe-inspiring walk to the guillotine with selfless resolve, sacrificing his life so that Lucie, the woman he loves, can be reunited with her husband.
These are deaths of valor - to me the most moving of all. These characters, fully aware, accept death as the price of saving the people they love. That's powerful stuff. What reader is not moved to ask herself in admiration: Could I do the same?
So tell me, what character's death broke your heart?
***
Giveaway! Win a copy of my new novel The Queen's Exiles. My publisher is giving away 25 advance copies. Enter for a chance to win! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
***
Visit my website: http://www.barbarakyle.com/
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message 1:
by
M.K.
(new)
Feb 07, 2014 06:43AM
A wonderful discussion, Barbara. I'm not good at recalling books such that I can define what death affected me most. I do remember, however, asking someone to read an earlier version of Unravelled, one when Ann (the female protagonist) dies at the end. My reader said in no uncertain terms and in all caps YOU CAN'T LET HER DIE AT THE END!! IT'S FAR TOO UNSETTING. So, Ann doesn't die at the end :-)
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M.K. wrote: "A wonderful discussion, Barbara. I'm not good at recalling books such that I can define what death affected me most. I do remember, however, asking someone to read an earlier version of Unravelled,..."Excellent decision, Mary!
Spoiler alert! Lord Harold Trowbridge in Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen Mystery Series. Heartbreaking.
Oh wow what a wonderful post! You name a good many of the ones that have broken my heart, especially Beth in Little Women...that one hurt for sure!
Ladygarden wrote: "Spoiler alert! Lord Harold Trowbridge in Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen Mystery Series. Heartbreaking."Thanks for the suggestion. Will check out the series!
I love this post, Barbara. In "A stone for Danny Fisher" by Harold Robbins, the death of Danny. The book opens at Danny's graveside with Danny speaking as though from beyond. I read the book quite a few times and always ended in tears.
Colleen wrote: "Oh wow what a wonderful post! You name a good many of the ones that have broken my heart, especially Beth in Little Women...that one hurt for sure!"You're in good company, Colleen. May people mentioned Beth.
Many many character deaths through the years. Not the least being any number of Dorothy Dunnett's characters from The Lymond Saga and the House of Niccolo series but the one that truly broke my heart, probably because I was young at the time and unfamiliar with the death of loved ones, was Matthew in Anne of Green Gables. I felt every moment of Anne's and Marilla's grief and when I finally saw the TV version, I felt the pain as if it were freshly inflicted.
I love Dunnett's work, too, Prue. And Matthew's heartbreaking death in Anne of Green Gables is one that many people mentioned in my original "survey". Thanks for including him here.
Matthew's death in Anne of Green Gables has haunted me since I read the series as a Child. I agree with Prue seeing it in the TV version started my mourning afresh - included the pain of other "non-fiction" loses all into that pain. Also Pope Bill in "The Accidental Pope".
Gin wrote: "Matthew's death in Anne of Green Gables has haunted me since I read the series as a Child. I agree with Prue seeing it in the TV version started my mourning afresh - included the pain of other "no..."Another mention of Matthew - thanks, Gin. I'm Canadian, where L. M. Montgomery's "Anne" books are considered a national treasure.
