Wordfull Wednesday - Character Kinship

Wordfull Wednesday's topic:  What fictional character do you feel a kinship with?

WW took me off guard this week, and that's probably a good thing!  This is one of those questions I have to shoot right off the top of my head or I go crazy attaching myself to every character who has ever influenced me...and it becomes impossible to answer.  I mean, you are what you read!  I have to go with my gut on this one - and even then I can't name one.  I can only settle for narrowing to three.

1.  Anne Shirley

I love to read and I would rather read than do most of the things I am supposed to be doing!  I remember a couple of years ago trying to read "North and South" by Elizabeth Gaskell.  We were staying at our family cabin, where reading is a favorite past time.  I am sure it didn't go unnoticed by the children that bedtime/quiet time kept getting earlier and earlier each night...

I confess, I couldn't wait to get back to my book.

2.  Marmee March (not to be confused with Susan Serrandon :)

There is no way I am anywhere near Marmee's unselfish goodness and near perfection.  Alcott's idealistic fantasy or her mother's saintly reality - it doesn't matter to me.  I have always carried Marmee's mother-heart wishes as my own.  Here's a sample:

A:  Learn to know and value the praise which is worth having, and to excite the admiration of excellent people by being modest as well as pretty, Meg. 

B:  I want my daughters to be beautiful, accomplished, and good. To be admired, loved, and respected. To have a happy youth, to be well and wisely married, and to lead useful, pleasant lives, with as little care and sorrow to try them as God sees fit to send. To be loved and chosen by a good man is the best and sweetest thing which can happen to a woman, and I sincerely hope my girls may know this beautiful experience. It is natural to think of it, Meg, right to hope and wait for it, and wise to prepare for it, so that when the happy time comes, you may feel ready for the duties and worthy of the joy. My dear girls, I am ambitious for you, but not to have you make a dash in the world, marry rich men merely because they are rich, or have splendid houses, which are not homes because love is wanting. Money is a needful and precious thing, and when well used, a noble thing, but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for. I'd rather see you poor men's wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace.

C:  Money is a good and useful thing, Jo, and I hope my girls will never feel the need of it too bitterly not be tempted by too much. I should like to know that John was firmly established in some good business, which gave him an income large enough to keep free from debt and make Meg comfortable. I'm not ambitious for a splendid fortune, a fashionable position, or a great name for my girls. If rank and money come with love and virtue, also, I should accept them gratefully, and enjoy your good fortune, but I know, by experience, how much genuine happiness can be had in a plain little house, where the daily bread is earned, and some privations give sweetness to the few pleasures. I am content to see Meg begin humbly, for if I am not mistaken, she will be rich in the possession of a good man's heart, and that is better than a fortune."

And last but certainly not least:

3.  Elinor Dashwood

Call it what you will - oldest child syndrome, birth order disease...

...but I "get" Elinor - maybe too well. :)

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