PHS Students use their lunch time to connect with more fictional characters. Photo By: Jay Brown

By: Jay Brown

Literature can be an important aspect in one’s life. Novels can benefit people in multiple ways, whether it be: someone finding him or herself, gaining more knowledge, learning an extensive vocabulary, finding a new perspective or reading to cope with hardships. Not only does literature benefit individuals, but fictional characters can aid people throughout their lives.

Fictional characters can provide a reader with a sense of hope in a tough situation as well as teach readers life lessons. Freshman Samuel Carroll has experienced this first hand. Carroll talks about, “August Pullman from the book, Wonder, has taught me that people with disabilities should be treated like anyone else.” Thanks to August Pullman, individuals can empathize and have a better understanding of what it is like to live with a disability.

Fictional characters can also empower individuals to stand up for what they believe in. Courage the Cowardly Dog taught freshman Nicholas Balkema how to stand up for himself when he was being bullied. Balkema then went on to explain by saying, “Courage lives in the middle of nowhere, and gets scared, kidnapped, bullied, encaged, beaten because he was bullied by Eustace [Bagge], and I was being bullied so he just ignored him and I did the same with my bullies and when other people saw it they stood up for me.” Fictional characters can lead victims to stand up for themselves, and help stop bullying.

Not only does literature empower people, but the characters can change the way an individual lives his or her life. Freshman Brisa Arriaga’s role model is Tris from Divergent. “Tris is my role model because she is a strong female character. She is not only kind but brave, smart, honest, and is selfless.” Freshman Josie Koontz also idolizes a fictional character. Koontz said, “the main character of the book Glory Be is someone I’d like to be more like. She’s just a girl, younger than I am but the the things she does in the book and stands up for is amazing.” Not only are fictional characters an inspiration to people but they can provide one with a sense of comfort.

All of these literature works has a fictional character in it that affects people’s life. Photo By: Jay Brown

Fictional characters have the ability to make people feel more capable, and less alone. Freshman Davis Bougher believes that “seeing a character fight a problem can often be applied as a metaphor to other issues in your life.” Bougher then went on to explain by saying, “there is always a wider and wider variety of characters for people to identify with. For example: Miles Morales, who is the new spiderman, is a gay teenager of Black-Hispanic descent. Or Kamala Khan, the new Ms. Marvel, who is a teenage Pakistani-American girl.” With having more diversity in the characters, it would be harder to feel like you are the only one experiencing the obstacle you are going through. Carroll stated, “[The struggling individual] can see that their favorite characters held on and found a way through their tough times and they can see that and try to be like them. Even if you aren’t physically with someone you feel as though you can feel their presence when you watch or read something to see them.” Balkema went as far as to say, “fictional characters might be even more important [than real people] because the public can see what good they need to bring.”

Fictional characters have a way of altering the way we live and act. They can teach that it is not just okay, but good to be different, and they are others who are. Literature teaches  that individuals are never alone.