# Characters who are almost absent from a work named after them **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [November 23, 2021, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806 "2021-11-23T13:31:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2021, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/101 "2021-11-26T04:38:34Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > You could try an unabridged _ **Treasure Island** _ if you enjoy this kind of literature. _ **Les Miserables** _ is another. _Treasure Island_ is not at all in the same category as _Moby Dick_ and _Les Miserables_. It’s an easy, enjoyable read. I loved _Treasure Island_ when I was 10 years old, and had no difficulty reading the full original version. It’s been enjoyed by generations of children (and adults) from Stevenson’s time onward… at least, until modern media destroyed their attention span. It’s _the_ essential pirate story, that inspired all others. And the pirates are _not_ figures of fun, they are violent, ruthless, and unlikeable people. I remember my shock at 10 years old when Long John Silver, who has been so friendly and sociable up to that point, viciously kills a man in cold blood. > Far away out in the marsh there arose, all of a sudden, a sound like the cry of anger, then another on the back of it; and then one horrid, long-drawn scream. … > > Tom had leaped at the sound, like a horse at the spur, but Silver had not winked an eye. He stood where he was, resting lightly on his crutch, watching his companion like a snake about to spring. > > “John!” said the sailor, stretching out his hand. > > “Hands off!” cried Silver, leaping back a yard, as it seemed to me, with the speed and security of a trained gymnast. > > “Hands off, if you like, John Silver,” said the other. “It’s a black conscience that can make you feared of me. But in heaven’s name, tell me, what was that?” > > “That?” returned Silver, smiling away, but warier than ever, his eye a mere pin-point in his big face, but gleaming like a crumb of glass. “That? Oh, I reckon that’ll be Alan.” > > And at this point Tom flashed out like a hero. > > “Alan!” he cried. “Then rest his soul for a true seaman! And as for you, John Silver, long you’ve been a mate of mine, but you’re mate of mine no more. If I die like a dog, I’ll die in my dooty. You’ve killed Alan, have you? Kill me too, if you can. But I defies you.” > > And with that, this brave fellow turned his back directly on the cook and set off walking for the beach. But he was not destined to go far. With a cry John seized the branch of a tree, whipped the crutch out of his armpit, and sent that uncouth missile hurtling through the air. It struck poor Tom, point foremost, and with stunning violence, right between the shoulders in the middle of his back. His hands flew up, he gave a sort of gasp, and fell. > > Whether he were injured much or little, none could ever tell. Like enough, to judge from the sound, his back was broken on the spot. But he had no time given him to recover. Silver, agile as a monkey even without leg or crutch, was on the top of him next moment and had twice buried his knife up to the hilt in that defenceless body. From my place of ambush, I could hear him pant aloud as he struck the blows. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/102 "2021-11-27T22:27:00Z")
I am a fast reader and enjoy a good fat book. The problem I have with the likes of War and Peace is the names which make it difficult to scan the text. I agree about Treasure Island. I actually meant Robinson Crusoe which in its original form is a political polemic. Les Mis, is full of tangential diversions which, if you have read the book, do serve to explain the likes of Gavroche and how come the students are so old. Also a lot about pre-revolutionary French society. None the less it has a lot of tedious parts which the film and stage show simply ignored. How Boublil and Natel managed to compress it into a coherent stage performance beats me. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/103 "2021-11-27T23:50:05Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I agree about Treasure Island. I actually meant Robinson Crusoe which in its original form is a political polemic. Ah. I agree there. I picked up Robinson Crusoe years ago and never did finish it. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/104 "2021-11-28T12:41:48Z")
Uh, I’m still waiting for Godot. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/105 "2021-11-28T16:29:25Z")
Just be happy he isn’t your doctor (See my post way above) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/106 "2021-11-28T16:58:25Z")
**One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish** ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/107 "2021-11-28T17:09:08Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > This excerpt from Wiki makes it sound like it was never intended to be a gift from the Greeks to the Trojans in the first place. It was supposed to be a gift from the Greeks to Athena, to ensure a safe voyage home. Funny how million year old oral narratives can’t stay consistent 🙂 This reminded me of a serious issue of **today**. One variant of the current ransomware or virus attacks to corporations is the one about leaving a USB or other pluggable device on the floor close to the target, curiosity or guys trying to be helpful (thinking they can find the owner) makes people plug the device into a computer that is connected to the business network. Infecting the network with the deadly payload (it can be when hospitals or other critical business are attacked). They call that _a physical Trojan horse_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/108 "2021-11-28T17:12:52Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Not appropriate at all. Not only does the very second page have all of these, they re-appear frequently throughout. There is a blue fish on the third page, for instance. > **[One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish](https://books.google.com/books?id=AdqjCxxY69MC&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&hl=en)** > > Count and explore the zany world and words of Seuss in this classic picture book.   From counting to opposites to Dr. Seuss's signature silly rhymes, this book has everything a beginning reader needs! Meet the bumpy Wump and the singing Ying, and... Now if you had named **The Monster at the End of this Book** you might conceivably have a point, if you go by Grover’s assumption about monsters. [https://www.amazon.com/Monster-End-This-Book/dp/0307010856/ref=asc\_df\_0307010856/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312281333464&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4642539373511150200&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001919&hvtargid=pla-435468947648&psc=1](https://www.amazon.com/Monster-End-This-Book/dp/0307010856/ref=asc_df_0307010856/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312281333464&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4642539373511150200&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001919&hvtargid=pla-435468947648&psc=1) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/109 "2021-11-28T18:34:35Z")
See, now I’m not sure whether _Sommersby_ counts. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/110 "2021-12-03T01:30:56Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Does The Iceman ever Come(th)? Yes. Hickey is the iceman, and I think he’s in 3 of the 4 acts. Saw it in Chicago with Nathan Lane. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2021, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/111 "2021-12-18T21:28:49Z")
I’m twisting things here but…the comic-book Avengers rarely do any avenging. THEY should be called The Defenders. Or the Reactors, or The Sitting Around and Waiting For Shit to Come to Them. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2021, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/112 "2021-12-18T22:01:21Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > > [@bob\_2](#): > > > > I agree about Treasure Island. I actually meant Robinson Crusoe which in its original form is a political polemic. > > Ah. I agree there. I picked up Robinson Crusoe years ago and never did finish it. As a kid, I tried reading Robinson Crusoe. Really tedious. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2021, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/113 "2021-12-19T08:26:27Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > As a kid, I tried reading Robinson Crusoe. Really tedious. As a kid, I won a copy of Robinson Crusoe, a special children’s edition with wonderful illustrations. Loved it! ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2021, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/114 "2021-12-19T14:25:45Z")
Never read it, but I learned from watching Jeopardy that in the novel _The Spy Who Loved Me_ by Ian Fleming, James Bond doesn’t appear until two-thirds of the way through. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2021, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/115 "2021-12-19T14:49:27Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > The strip still uses the title Barney Google & Snuffy Smith (for Sunday editions), but the former hasn’t been seen in many decades. > > Edit: he’s apparently made a few cameos over the past decade. I looked it up and he’s moved back to the holler earlier this year. In fact, he’s in [today’s strip](https://comicskingdom.com/barney-google-and-snuffy-smith) (12/19/21) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/116 "2021-12-19T15:08:10Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > As a kid, I tried reading Robinson Crusoe. Really tedious. > > As a kid, I won a copy of Robinson Crusoe, a special children’s edition with wonderful illustrations. Loved it! I’m guessing you read an abridged version. What I tried was the unabridged one and I can’t remember why I tried that. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2021, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/117 "2021-12-19T15:47:18Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > > > [@CalMeacham](#): > > > > > > > > > > [@bob\_2](#): > > > > > > > > > > > > > I agree about Treasure Island. I actually meant Robinson Crusoe which in its original form is a political polemic. > > > > > > > [/quote] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Ah. I agree there. I picked up Robinson Crusoe years ago and never did finish it. > > > > > > > > > > As a kid, I tried reading Robinson Crusoe. Really tedious. > > > > > > As a kid, I won a copy of Robinson Crusoe, a special children’s edition with wonderful illustrations. Loved it! > > I’m guessing you read an abridged version. What I tried was the unabridged one and I can’t remember why I tried that. It’s a matter of personal taste - your ‘tedious’ could be my ‘riveting’. I read what I’m pretty sure was an unabridged copy as a kid and thoroughly enjoyed it. There’s an unabridged version available on Amazon and it’s only 314 pages. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2021, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/118 "2021-12-19T15:57:41Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Did you think the horse was a battering ram? The Trojan horse never put in an appearance in the _Iliad._ We didn’t see the horse until the _Odyssey_ presumably because the sequel had a bigger budget for special effects. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2021, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/119 "2021-12-19T16:05:32Z")
The main source (among books available today) for the story of the Trojan Horse is _The Aeneid_, not _The Odyssey_ (which refers sketchily to it). ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/120 "2021-12-19T23:40:08Z")
I picked this paragraph as an example from the first chapter of the book. We all see things differently, but this is a long way from Man Friday and desert islands. _\> He bade me observe it, and I should always find that_ _\> the calamities of life were shared among the upper and_ _\> lower part of mankind, but that the middle station had the_ _\> fewest disasters, and was not exposed to so many_ _\> vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind; nay,_ _\> they were not subjected to so many distempers and_ _\> uneasinesses, either of body or mind, as those were who,_ _\> by vicious living, luxury, and extravagances on the one_ \*\> hand, or by hard labour, want of necessaries, and mean or \* _\> insufficient diet on the other hand, bring distemper upon_ _\> themselves by the natural consequences of their way of_ _\> living; that the middle station of life was calculated for all_ _\> kind of virtue and all kind of enjoyments; that peace and_ _\> plenty were the handmaids of a middle fortune; that_ _\> temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society, all_ _\> agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, were the_ _\> blessings attending the middle station of life; that this way_ _\> men went silently and smoothly through the world, and_ _\> comfortably out of it, not embarrassed with the labours of_ _\> the hands or of the head, not sold to a life of slavery for_ _\> daily bread, nor harassed with perplexed circumstances,_ _\> which rob the soul of peace and the body of rest, nor_ _\> enraged with the passion of envy, or the secret burning_ _\> lust of ambition for great things; but, in easy_ _\> circumstances, sliding gently through the world, and_ _\> sensibly tasting the sweets of living, without the bitter;_ _\> feeling that they are happy, and learning by every day’s_ _\> experience to know it more sensibly,_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806.md?page=7)