State of the Arts Blog

The best literary characters of all time

What makes a great literary character? According to today's conversation on Midmorning they grow and change, wrestle with conflict, make you see the world through different eyes and appeal to a part of us that others might not see. Oh and they stay with us.

Today callers shared their favorite characters of all time - I've compiled a list for your reading pleasure. Is your favorite character missing? Let me know. You can listen to this morning's conversation by clicking on the link below:

The best literary characters of all time:

Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Guy Montag (Farenheit 451)

Holden Caulfield (The Catcher in the Rye)

Anne of Green Gables (series by L.M. Montgomery)

Jane Eyre

Glory (Glory Goes and Gets Some) - MN author Emily Carter

Beezus (Beezus and Ramona)

Jo March (Little Women)

Det. Harry Bosch (17 mysteries starting with The Black Echo)

Huck Finn

Gus McCrae (Lonesome Dove)

Santiago (The Alchemist)

The Doctor (The Plague)

Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffany's)

Lisbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)

Dagny Taggart (Atlas Shrugged)

Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice)

Rabbit (John Updike's series of novels)

Anna Karenina

The Doctor (Cider House Rules)

Horatio Hornblower (C.S. Forester series)

Spencer (Robert B. Parker series)

David Copperfield (the book by Dickens, not the magician)

Dorothea Brooks (Middlemarch)

Sherlock Holmes

Okonkwo (Things Fall Apart)

Mrs. Murry (A Wrinkle in Time)

Edgar Sawtelle (The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel)

Roland (Stephen King's Gunslinger series)

Captain Ahab (Moby Dick)

Trixie Belden (The Trixie Belden Series)

Philip Marlowe (Raymond Chandler character)

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