Who are the best-loved book characters?
My housemates and I were on our way to Tokyo DisneySea. It was a cold morning, and memories of the first week of the previous term came to mind. (I had trouble on focusing on my assignments, as the chilly air made me drowsy on a number of occasions. I ended up hooked on caffeine once more.) James couldn't get over the fact that we would set foot on a Disney park one more time. He wanted to see Ghibli Museum, but Tim and I have a change of mind. We have a great time in Paris Disneyland last summer. I had a blast inside the Tower of Terror. More on that later.
We were told that DisneySea would be different from the other Disney parks, but I wouldn't know. I thought we didn't leave the continent at all. Tim was amazed at the Mediterranean Harbor, which reminded him of Naples. (Imagine Etna looming over an old city littered with Medieval structures.) One local advised us to go back to this spot during night time. James had a change of heart after he saw a replica of a Mesoamerican pyramid. We reckoned that it would be a chance for visitors to experience the near-death adventure of Indiana Jones. We persuaded him to ride on the steamboat instead.
The boat trip was a recollection of the coursework; Jules Verne would be pleased with a real-life version of the Nautilus. A reproduction of America during the 19th century made me thought of Mark Twain, and how long it took me to write an essay on the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". I was distracted by what I read the other day. Reading Agency held a survey, where they asked 1,200 people on their favorite childhood book character. Forty-five percent of the respondents liked a character who had an adventurous nature, while thirty-seven percent saw good friends in their choices. The rest thought that their favorite characters taught them to be different. I would fancy the last one.
I wished for a real version of Middle-earth, and how I was green with envy at Bilbo Baggins. As a matter of fact, I mistakenly took the volcano (in Mediterranean Harbor) for Mordor. The bright sun made me saw the error of my ways. If I were to pick my favorite characters, then I would select these esteemed five:
Babe, the sheep pig. I would swear that I saw him during the harvest festival last year. I may be imagining too much, though.
Lyra Belacqua. It would take courage to set foot in a foreign land. In Lyra's case, she passed through different worlds. It excited me, but there was an element of uncertainty. I had second thoughts instead.
Charlotte. As long as it's not a big, hairy tarantula.
Matilda. I don't mind being upstaged by this young girl. As a matter of fact, she would be THE darling of the English Department. Then again, the secretary (of the English Department) won't be considerate of me anymore.
Lucy Pevensie. She was my favorite character from The Chronicles of Narnia series. She was the most sensitive and faithful out of all the Pevensie sibling, which were the very traits that I would see in my eleven-year-old niece.
As the boat trip was about to come to an end, I remembered to buy a nice souvenir item for my niece. (We would go home in two weeks' time.) But we must try the Tower of Terror one more time. I would love being the subject of the law of gravity. Sir Isaac Newton won't mind the pun, not even the silly side story about an English adventurer getting cursed after stealing a statue of an idol from a remote African village. Then again, H. Rider Haggard might have thought of it for one of his novellas.
