Within the Pages: Finding Yourself in Fictional Characters

While many kids like to watch TV and dive into the world of screens, my heart’s always stayed with the ink on the pages of books. At the young age of five, I started reading. Little did five-year-old me know that those 26 letters that made up the alphabet would make up some of the world’s greatest pieces of literature.

From following Karina Ahmed standing up for herself to watching Fern Arable save a piglet, it makes my heart surge to know that these are the influences that kids can look up to and see as role models. 

As someone who grew up watching princess movies where the guy saves the girl, The Hunger Games trilogy made me so happy. Not only do we get to see a female protagonist but one standing up for herself and the people around her. Thus far, I’d only read stories where the girls were too scared to do something, too scared to stand up to someone. However, Katniss Everdeen changed the game for me. She taught me that girls could be strong, never give up, and that we have to stand up for ourselves even if no one else is willing to do so. 

If you asked me which character helped me find myself first, my mind flies from book to book. Which character did help me first? I’m sure not all of you remember the first book you’ve ever read, but I can say that the first sprinkle of self-confidence that I’ve gotten from a character was from Nikki Maxwell from the Dork Diaries series. Nikki, according to the books, was the 9th most unpopular girl in the school. Nevertheless, she didn’t let the bullies get her down, even when all seemed lost, her friends were always there to help her out. Nikki was the first person who taught me that everyone has flaws. While I was self-conscious, there was Nikki, who was so optimistic, that it made me feel better. Nikki, who is constantly called a dork, accepts her flaws and tells young girls that it’s okay to be self-conscious about these flaws. However, in the end, the only way to defeat the feeling of self-consciousness is to accept yourself for who you are. Loving yourself is the most important type of love.

Sometimes I imagine myself in the role of these characters. Can I truly be as brave as they were when they defeated the dragon? Can I do everything that they can do? For me, the answer will always be yes. I may not be super smart like Matilda, I may not be able to put people to sleep like Nova Artino from the Renegades trilogy, but I can still say that these influences will always remind me that anything they can do, I can do. I can stand up to my parents like Matilda, and I can be brave like Nova. The only thing holding us back is ourselves. This doesn’t mean I want you to learn how to fight a bad guy. (I know, we’ve all wanted to be superheroes.) Rather, I want you to learn that every book, every character that we love, has some admirable quality that makes us love them. They helped me make me the person I am. By using the messages and themes from each character, those very fictional roles in our lives become a greater comfort than ever imaginable. We like characters because they’re relatable. They have their flaws, but in the end, they learn how to overcome them. That is why we love them so much and we start to reflect on them. I’m not telling you to base your whole personality on one character, I’m telling you to use these characters to make yourself truly yourself. Everyone is different and if this is what makes you different from everyone else, so be it and one day, we can all proudly say, “They helped me get here.”