Which Character Would you Save?

 One of the hazards of immersing ourselves in great books is the occasional fictional death that rocks us to our very depths. It's understandable that these should hit us hard, for within the pages of stories we gain more access to the deep inner workings of people's hearts than we do with many of our flesh and blood friends. But at these tearful moments our real life friends and family may shake their heads and laugh while we try to hide how deeply grieved we feel over the loss of a fictional friend. 

If you're like me, every so often someone may ask which character you'd choose to save if you had the power to prevent any single literary death. That's a harsh question to put to a bookworm, since we spread our nets of love extremely wide. In all honestly, narrowing it down to one would be an impossible task for me. So it's probably a good thing that this sudden power is merely hypothetical. 

But here's a list of a dozen of my contenders, in no particular order. I'd probably save each of these in a flash if I could. (Oh by the way, naturally there will be spoilers, so tread carefully.)

1) Dobby

How hard it is to see a courageous character slaughtered straight on the heels of performing a mighty rescue deed. The little house elf with the enormous heart had just saved several prisoners from the dungeon of Malfoy Manor, where they would have been finished off by Lord Voldemort. Among them was the Golden Trio; Harry, Ron and Hermione. The manner in which Rowling wrote of Dobby's plaintive expression and hand stretched to Harry just before he expired wrenched tears from my son when I read it to him. So I wouldn't be at all surprised if Dobby was his choice. 

2) Fred Weasley 

I'd love to save this bright and humorous boy for the sake of his brother. To lose an identical twin who was always on his wavelength, sharing in his mischief and being his business partner must have been an unbearable blow for poor George. So if we could spare Fred from this list, would we?

3) Matthew Cuthbert

Oh no, not good old modest, hard-working Matthew who was brimming with love for his orphan girl, Anne! It was such a sudden loss too, as he suffers a fatal heart-attack after reading bad financial news about his bank. I once read that Montgomery herself regretted the decision to kill off Matthew, but by then, it was too late. She'd already committed the deed, and now the trauma of his loss keeps devastating fresh generations of readers. Since the author had a change of heart, would you choose Matthew to save? (Incidentally, the writers of the Anne with an E Netflix series answered yes to that one. Reckless canon-changers are always hard at work.) 

4) Walter Blythe

Goodness, this time it's Anne's brilliant and beautiful second son. He dies a soldier's death in the First World War at the age of 22. Walter was already a celebrity poet with plenty more genius up his sleeve to release on the world, but never gets the chance. Interestingly, years down the track, Anne confides in her older son, Jem, that it might have been a blessing his brother didn't live to see the aftermath of the War, as his sensitive soul would never have recovered. This adds some conflict to the question. Would you let Walter live, or was his death the most merciful thing for him after all? (See my review of Rilla of Ingleside)

5) Ravi Patel

You might be scratching your head, asking, 'Who?' He was a side character in Life of Pi , being the main character's light-hearted older brother. Ravi used to tease his brother, Piscene, for the eclectic variety of religions he adhered to. He was a keen cricket player and sunny-natured individual. Just the sort of person we hate to see go down with a sinking ship. And if only he woke up when his brother shook him to check out the weird lurching, he might have survived. Ravi's death touched me deeply, especially when I saw Pi grieving not just his brother, but the loss of the sister-in-law, nephews and nieces he now felt cheated out of ever having. 

6) Beth March

Surely we all agree that doers of good deeds shouldn't suffer sickness and death as a consequence of their kindness. What sort of karma is that? The shy little March sister was nursing a neighbour's sick baby when she contracted the scarlet fever that eventually killed her. Beth left a gaping hole in the lives of her family. Would you save her if you could? Keep in mind, this story is rooted in reality, as Louisa May Alcott's beloved sister Elizabeth, on whom Beth was based, died in similar circumstances. So perhaps Beth's fate was Louisa's way of expressing grief for her real life sister and memorialising her. Do we really want to mess with that? (See my review of Good Wives, Part 2 of Little Women)

7) Augustine St. Clare

This young man was my favourite character from Uncle Tom's Cabin. He was Tom's kindest master, the father of the saintly Little Eva, and a firm believer in the abolishment of slavery. Augustine was on the brink of making a bold stand for universal freedom when he was killed in a freak street fight. To me, his fate had 'Cruel Plot Device' stamped all over it, making way for Tom to be sold to the despicable Simon Legree. I hate it when great characters die, but even more so when it's written with the intention of having our rugs viciously pulled out from beneath us. (His daughter could also be on this list, but I kept her off because in the long run, Eva was one of those too-good-for-this-world characters who probably pine for heaven from the moment they're born. Overall, I'd prefer to save her dad.)

8) Rawdon Crawley

He's the kind of honest young general who takes things on face value, and has the misfortune to fall in love with fortune-hunter Becky Sharp. Rawdon's life took a downward spiral from the moment he married her. Not only was he disowned by the aunt who would have left him her fortune, but the wife he became a pauper for cheated on him over and over. I find it hard to forgive Thackeray for letting Rawdon die of yellow fever, all alone in his new post in the tropics, instead of writing in some compensation for him. The fate of poor Rawdon might have been true to life, but sometimes we yearn for books to transcend life. I would have loved to save Rawdon, for his own sake and that of his beloved young son. (See my review of Vanity Fair)

9) Sydney Carton

Wow, this brave and compassionate soul goes willingly to the guillotine for the sake of the woman he loves and her family. He plays on his strong resemblance to her husband to set up a case of mistaken identity and save an innocent man. Anyone who could pull off such a noble, self-sacrificing action deserves to live a long, happy life. If only Dickens wrote in some loophole to save both young men, but the story wouldn't have packed a fraction of the same punch if he did. Even I, a staunch Sydney Carton fan, can see that. But would you overlook the tragic beauty of this tale and save him anyway? (See my review of A Tale of Two Cities)

10) Tom Robinson

He's the deeply wronged coloured man who was falsely accused of raping a young white woman, when in actual fact he was simply being a courteous neighbour. Defence lawyer extraordinaire Atticus Finch goes to great lengths to prove Tom's innocence, compromising his own family's safety and reputation in the process. It's such a blow for good characters and good readers all round when Tom dies anyway. There is a certain inevitably about his fate from the moment Mayella Ewell opens her mouth to scream the lie that makes this book unforgettable. But would you save Tom anyway?

11) Petya Rostov

I'd save young Petya's life for his poor mother's sake. He's a young teenager, still wet behind the ears, who wants to join the Russian forces in the war against Napoleon and be a hero. Petya doesn't have a complete grasp of what he's jumping into, but impulsively leaps in anyway and pays the ultimate price. Many young men have a chance to learn from their mistakes, but not this one, and I so wish he did. His mother's over-protective heart and intense fear that this would happen to her beloved youngest baby sticks in my mind. My heart aches for her, because I'm a fellow mother of boys, and because it did happen! Oh Countess Rostov, I would have saved him for you if I could. (See my review of War & Peace)

12) Judy Woolcot

I'm adding this one for my mother-in-law, who is in her seventies and states that she never recovered from reading Seven Little Australians as a child. You can understand why, when the most beloved main character is crushed close to the end of the book by a falling tree. We have a mischievous, original, kind and spirited heroine wiped out in an instant. Ethel Turner, how could you do that to your loyal readers, who are only children themselves? Authors are meant to be ambassadors for reading books, but it would not surprise me if this one caused several impressionable kids to never pick up another novel. I've left this example until last because it's probably as shocking and tragic as it gets. You won't find a review of this book on my blog because I refuse to pick it up for a re-read myself.

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Okay, do any of these strike a chord with you too? What I notice as I skim my eye down is that they were all young (with the exception of Matthew) and their demises were so untimely. Please tell us in the comments which broke your heart most, and feel free to add any examples of your own, which might have us striking our foreheads and saying, 'Of course!'