Do you guys adore any persona in your life? Knowing his/ her is awakening your inner-self?
You shall take your time.
Let me share with you one of the characters that I love. She is Anne Shirley. A distinctive person in a fictional book, Anne the Green Gable by Lucy Maud Montgomery in 19th century.
The first time I heard her name was during my childhood time, around twelve years old as one of a local television channel aired a Japanese anime adaptation of this storybook. I fall in love with her personality the moment I travel through her life journey.
Briefly, Anne is a young orphan girl who is mistakenly sent by an orphanage to an old couple, yet decided to keep her. The story brought me together to Anne's life challenges. Her past story together with her wit character enhances the overall narrative.
There a few screenplays adapted from this novel. I have watched a few version of the films/drama series inspired by the novel but I guess the most impressive version is the drama series "Anne with an e" that is aired on Netflix.
In a few words, I would describe her as passionate, highly imaginative, expressive, emotional and independent. However, the most attractive trait is her ability to accept and proud of her uniqueness. I'll share with you guys a few quotes from the original novel as examples.
“Oh, look, here’s a big bee just tumbled out of an apple blossom. Just think what a lovely place to live–in an apple blossom! Fancy going to sleep in it when the wind was rocking it. If I wasn’t a human girl, I think I’d like to be a bee and live among the flowers.”
-Anne ShirleyAnne ability to extend her fantasy has helped her to go through her life struggle. She always tends to drown in her thought mostly inspired by nature.
Sometimes, I also have a certain level of imagination that lingers in my brain. I still remember driving on Penang Bridge and wondering whether the large columns of the bridge will block any whale that is swimming on the strait. To be honest I am not sure there is any whale will cross over the strait. I think the strait is not so deep to allow a whale to swim through it. Maybe a newborn whale can swim through it. I don't know. As far as I remember during my trip to the island via the ferry, I can only see jellyfishes.
An example of whale movement: https://fb.watch/3Dl7U7HdU7/
I believe vivid imagination linked with nature resulted from a strong concern about a living thing. Sympathy, detail-oriented and appreciative shaped a person to be able to dive through nature.
For me, nothing wrong to be imaginative, as long as we always return to reality.
“I can’t. I’m in the depths of despair. Can you eat when you are in the depths of despair?”
- Anne ShirleyHer highly expressive emotion helped her to solve the problem in her life. She speaks, stands on her own feet, explains the truth. Even though the truth hurts, but it's better than the alternative, a pretty lie.
Anne has quite a harsh history. She lived in the orphanage house since she was born. Her eccentric trait makes her different from other children and sometimes she's being teased because of it. Her past trauma did affect her but she always hopes for a better tomorrow and doesn't let her past dictate her future. She's proud of herself and believes she is special. That's helped her to keep going.
The lesson learnt is to always have hope in the mercy of Allah. Believe that everything happens for a reason.
“People laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them, haven’t you?”
- Anne Shirley.She loves reading. It helps her to break the prison in her mind and let her fly to the world beyond. Her thirst for knowledge guide her to be open-minded and easy to mingle with people around her. Reading also exposed her to the usage of rare and "big" words at a young age. People around her also having a hard time to understand her talk.
Fan of Louisa May Alcott and Jane Austin surely will find this story interesting. For me, I more keen on children story because they are honest, expressive and pure. That makes Anne Shirley is remarkable.
I believe everyone has a character that we can relate to. Feel free to share your character in any story that you love.
Kudos.