Ever a strong emotional reaction–positive or negative–to something that happened in a work of fiction, only to decide later that you were wrong about it?
For that matter, have you ever held a passionate belief about the “factual” nature of something in a work of fiction–even argue about it with your friend (online or otherwise), only to later realize you were on the wrong side of the debate?
Then this thread is for you.
I’ll start with a work of musical theatre. For years I’ve despised Marius from Les Miserables because
I blamed him for the death of Thenardier’s daughter, Eponine, who dies while trying to join him and the rest of the rebels on the barricade because of her hopeless love for him. Not only does Marius have the colossal bad taste to prefer the vapid and idiotic Cosette over the lively and resourceful Eponine, but I’d always felt he was blind to the latter’s devotion to him that he he cruelly sent her to deliver a love note to the former. Marius, I’ve always thought, will have some 'splaining to do on Judgment Day.
Well, today I listened to the symphonic album (as I do once a year) and I changed my mind. I still think Marius had horrible taste, but I’ve decided
when Marius sends Eponine to deliver the love note, it’s with dual purposes: partly to let her know firmly but gently that he’s in love with another, but mostly to get her away from the danger of the coming battle. Given the circumstances, he really had no better way to handle the situation.
Marius is, in short, still a man of poor taste, but not quite the jackass I’ve always called him.
Anybody else?
Originally reading Hamlet I thought he was a despicable, loathsome person. Nowadays I still don’t think he’s that nice a guy, but he’s not that bad.
I originally thought the short story “A&P” was about a jerk. Not really because of the sexist angle that was originally told to me, but that I didn’t think what Sammy did was anything too brave or not. That was when I was a freshman in HS. Now that I am a lot older, I respect the character for of Sammy for sticking up for what he thought was right. I don’t completely agree with his views, but he made up his mind and followed through - that makes me look at it a different way. Not sure if that is in line with the OP, but it’s close at least…
Brendon Small
When I first read A Doll’s House I thought Nora was self-absorbed. It wasn’t until I was in college that I realized what had made her that way, and the gravity of her predicament.
Years ago, I read a piece by someone about how his views on characters in literature changed as he himself aged, and Hamlet was a prime example. There was even an article in the journal American Scientist on how views of Hamlet have changed through time. I have to admit to not being a big fan of the character or the play, but apparently there is enough ambiguity and sufficient Big Themes to keep people busy for several lifetimes.
Well, this is more a matter of a teen reader missing the point that he later saw as an adult- but for years, I though Winston Smith was actually marched out & executed, and in his dying moments, realized that he loved Big Brother. I didn’t realize that he was just thinking about his eventual inevitable execution but then his already-damaged will finally collapsed and he realized that he did truly sincerely love Bib Brother. Thus, his soul did die & he willingly surrendered to BB.
When I saw the first two episode of the anime FLCL, I hated them. Aside from the brilliant parodies of the mecha fights from Evangelion, I thought it was a lame cliche-ridden, hollow attempt at wacky comedy that just wasn’t funny.
Then I saw all six episodes when they ran the series on Cartoon Network, and I realized just how utterly, utterly wrong I was. Now, it’s one of my all-time favorite anime.
When I read the Unbearable Lightness of Being, I read it as a parody of dour, artsy-fartsy capital-E European novels about sex and death. I thought it was hilarious! “Toulouse loves Greta, but Greta wants to make love to Helene. But Helene commits suicide over her ennui and unrequited love for Hans!”
Recently, I realized the book’s supposed to be serious. 