# Supposedly sympathetic characters you just can't stand **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 28, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462 "2005-12-28T18:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/41 "2005-12-29T14:33:56Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Lilith, too. What was Frazier thinking? I don’t think Lilith was supposed to be sympathetic in the first place. She was deliberately drawn as a cold-hearted (though hot) bitch. ---
**Author:** ![AmericanMaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@AmericanMaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmericanMaid)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/42 "2005-12-29T15:11:07Z")
Carrie Bradshaw drove me nuts. I found her immature, shallow, and embarassing to my gender. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/43 "2005-12-29T15:43:23Z")
Radar O’Reilly in the later years of _MASH_ the tv show. He digressed from a shrewd manipulator of Lt. Col. Henry Blake to having the characteristics of a cloistered nun. As anyone who knows farm boys can tell you, they treat farm animals as animals to be used for work or raised for food, not as beloved sissified pets. A real Iowa farm boy would never have complained about slaughtering a lamb for food, he would’ve said, “Where’s the mint jelly?” ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/44 "2005-12-29T16:08:26Z")
Jack Fucking Dawson. My god, the stupid shit that comes out of his mouth. If you didn’t want him to freeze to death after this tripe. . . > [@](#): > > Sorry. You just seemed like kind of an indoor girl. Anyway, I fell through some thin ice and I’m telling ya, water that cold, like right down there, it hits you like a thousand knives stabbing you all over your body. You can’t breathe. You can’t think. At least not about anything but the pain. Which is why I’m not looking’ forward to jumping in there after you. But like I said, I don’t have a choice. I guess I’m kinda hoping you’ll come back over the railing and get me off the hook. and this. . . > [@](#): > > Well, yes, ma’am, I do… I mean, I got everything I need right here with me. I got air in my lungs, a few blank sheets of paper. I mean, I love waking up in the morning not knowing what’s gonna happen or, who I’m gonna meet, where I’m gonna wind up. Just the other night I was sleeping under a bridge and now here I am on the grandest ship in the world having champagne with you fine people. I figure life’s a gift and I don’t intend on wasting it. You don’t know what hand you’re gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you… to make each day count. Then you’re a 14 year old girl. You would HATE anybody in real life that said the stupid shit he said all through the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/45 "2005-12-29T16:22:33Z")
**Hagrid** in the Harry Potter books. I can’t stand that guy. He’s a moron, he’s a bad teacher, he’s always needlessly endangering the kids’ lives – why on earth do they like him? Actually, at this point, I don’t think they even _do_ like him that much; they’re just loyal. Every time a Harry Potter book comes out in which it’s rumored that a character will be killed, I pray it’s going to be Hagrid. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/46 "2005-12-29T16:40:31Z")
I found none of the characters in Wuthering Heights to be sympathetic. They were all mean or selfish, or both. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/47 "2005-12-29T17:02:49Z")
Yep-hear ya on the Wuthering Heights Catherine–she submitted to physical abuse, if memory serves. I read that book when I was 13 and couldn’t stand her OR Heathcliffe. Blech. See, now I loved Lilith–she was so repressed and anal and then could not help herself. I mean, come on, folks–the object of her desire was _Frasier_ :eek: . Carla could die–yep. And Diane–but also Woody. Talk about thick as two planks! :rolleyes: And take Sam and Coach, too–the only truly funny guys on that show were Norm and Cliff. Bonfire of the Vanities–I have tried twice to read that book, and I can only get to page 14. Forgot the protagonist’s name, but he is a class A jerk and I didn’t care what happened to him-ever. I second Hagrid–what’s he FOR? The kids don’t even take his class anymore…lose the giant! The chickypoo in House of Sand and Fog–she was a borderline personality who was irresponsible and immature. I so rooted for the Iranian guy to keep his house-that he legally paid for and owned etc. His was the American Dream–she wa a layabout good for nothing. Never had any sympathy for her–and she got what she really wanted: stable roof over her head, three meals a day and companionship. Oh, god, I’ve gotten all wound up about that book… My Sister’s Keeper–the book about the sisters, one has leukemia and one was born simply to be a donor child to the sick one. How sick is that? Don’t want to ruin it for anyone, so I won’t say more, but the mom in that book–makes Joan Crawford look like Shirly Partridge. Gah, blech and yuck. Radar did kind of morph into something strange, didn’t he? Instead of hardening and growing during his stint, he became more infantile etc–very odd. I had not considered that before… ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/48 "2005-12-29T17:08:28Z")
Kenshin from _Rurouni Kenshin_ and Vash from _Trigun_. Yeah, their pasts were tragic, but both of them needed to move the _bleep_ on. Power and responsibility and all that. But no, they had to uphold their ideals no matter how much it cost them and everybody else. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/49 "2005-12-29T17:17:22Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > Radar O’Reilly in the later years of _MASH_ the tv show. He digressed from a shrewd manipulator of Lt. Col. Henry Blake to having the characteristics of a cloistered nun. As anyone who knows farm boys can tell you, they treat farm animals as animals to be used for work or raised for food, not as beloved sissified pets. A real Iowa farm boy would never have complained about slaughtering a lamb for food, he would’ve said, “Where’s the mint jelly?” My mother was a real Indiana farm girl and she wouldn’t eat lamb for many years because she got attached to the ones she raised for 4-H projects. Lamb wasn’t one their major ventures, though. They mainly grew corn and soybeans. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/50 "2005-12-29T18:01:21Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > A real Iowa farm boy would never have complained about slaughtering a lamb for food, he would’ve said, “Where’s the mint jelly?” OTOH, if he were brought up on a small farm in Georgia . . . 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/51 "2005-12-29T18:08:28Z")
Jack on Lost annoys me. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/52 "2005-12-29T18:12:52Z")
Annikin! Annikin! Annikin! Padme was a bimbo. George Baily was a passive aggressive manipulator. Jane Eyre. Gag. Early goth bullshit. Bond women. So, these smart, self assured, self made, take charge women all suddenly realise that what they really want is to be taken advantage of by a male slut? Peggy Hill. (Die, bitch!) ((Well, she might be menat to be rage inducing, hard to tell sometimes.)) Ewoks. Them’s GOOD eatin’!!! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/53 "2005-12-29T18:25:39Z")
Philip Carey, the protagonist of _Of Human Bobdage_. Since the novel was pretty much autobiographical, it is a window into W. Somerset Maugham’s self-loathing. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/54 "2005-12-29T18:26:52Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#): > > Philip Carey, the protagonist of _Of Human Bobdage_. That would be _Bondage_. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/55 "2005-12-29T18:28:38Z")
And I was just on [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com), not finding any books on bobdage. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/56 "2005-12-29T18:29:01Z")
Bobdage sounds more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/57 "2005-12-29T19:27:59Z")
> [@the raindog](#): > > Yes, you are the only one… 😉 No, he’s not. I think Bebe Neuhirth both was and is hot. ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/58 "2005-12-29T19:31:24Z")
Anyone ever seen The Good Girl starring Jennifer Aniston. I think that movie was supposed to have a sympathetic character, maybe even Aniston. But they were all so irritating that I was hoping for a nuclear bomb to go off killing them all. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/59 "2005-12-29T20:59:07Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Jack on Lost annoys me. Yeah, me too, kinda. Though I like the fact that some of the other characters are annoyed by him too – commenting on his “hero complex,” etc. At least they don’t let him off the hook. Granted, I’m only midway through the first season still; no idea where things are at now in the show. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462/60 "2005-12-29T21:40:50Z")
> [@drm](#): > > Is Napoleon Dynamite supposed to be sympathetic? I think he’s a bit of a jerk. Socially retarded doesn’t make one a jerk. He’s actually a pretty decent guy just abrasive and dumb. He befriends Pedro and defends him and puts himself out there to help Pedro win the election. He clearly likes the girl but has no clue how to interact with her. “Do you drink one percent because you think you’re fat? Because you could drink two percent if you wanted to.” is his way of telling her she’s pretty. And Luke Skywalker is only a whiny hick until he leaves Tattoine… he’s a badass by Jedi. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supposedly-sympathetic-characters-you-just-cant-stand/337462.md?page=4)