Today we’ll talk about surviving fictional worlds. We all know that sometimes, the worlds we love in fiction, can be dangerous. Which fictional worlds would you want to live in? Which worlds are you content to stay behind the glass, so to speak, rather than wishing to dive through the page? And once you get there, what would you do?
ow, I have a lot of unresolved issues on this topic, starting with characters who frustrate me in their worlds. Sometimes I feel like I could do a better job at their lives than they are. I suppose that is the point, but still…
Why is Edmund so dumb in Narnia? I got some Turkish Delight once at a British store and expected it to be the best thing ever! It is terrible. No one would betray their family and an entire country for the stuff. (Read this very funny essay from Atlas Obscura).
And as much as I love Jane Eyre, there are times when I want to shake her into action. Don’t even get me started on Cathy and Heathcliff. Get yourselves together! Oh, and I would definitely put some laudanum drops in Mrs. Bennet’s tea. That should calm her poor nerves.
Ok, I feel better.
¶
I would like to try my hand in the world of Sherlock Holmes, if I could be his assistant in some way. I love figuring out puzzles, I’m good with horses, I like English country estates and I want to see what gaslit London was really like. I think I could hold my own, if I were given the chance.
I wish the world of Thursday Next were real. I would be there in a minute. I’m not nearly as cool as Thursday is, but perhaps she would mentor me. I also want a pet dodo and to be really good at defeating the laws of physics.
I go back and forth on possibly being part of the old West. If I got to be a tough, rifle-toting woman who lived on the fringes of society, I think that would be fun as well.
¶
I have no desire to attempt any sort of survival during a post-disaster recovery. I’m not eating raw things. I don’t like talking to people so I certainly don’t want to have to work with them just to survive. Not going to The Road or The Revenant. Not doing it.