OOOO-Kay

The other day, my alphabet topic was Obedience. I don't think anyone would argue the importance of this virtue or the pleasure of meeting children who have learned it!

Here comes that monkey again, though, to throw into the works. What we know we should do in real life and how we need to be an example to others (our kids) isn't always the way we like to write or read.


Do your favorite characters obey? Mine sure don't. They don't act the way they know they should and they don't always meet my expectations either.

Is that a fatal flaw? Or maybe you would think that obedience rather than disobedience is the real problem in a character. They have to mess up to be interesting?

I tried to come up with main characters who exemplified both personalities. I thought of Madeline Mercer from my latest reviewed book, Love Finds You in Golden New Mexico by Lena Nelson Dooley. Her disobedience became a virtue. But then in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Edmund's disobedience to the witch and also lying to his family almost cost him his life.

On the other side, . . . um . . . wait, I can't think of any truly obedient main characters. Really? None? Oh, somebody help this poor forgetful reader! Surely there are many obedient main characters somewhere?

Maybe there aren't any protagonists who obey? I do know that those that don't obey will have to deal with the consequences. Good or bad don't we all have to deal with the consequences of our decisions? Characters should have to do no less, right?

I have a further opinion. (Maybe my O posting should have been Opinion!) I think that the only true fatal flaw that a character of any sort can have is to be disobedient to himself or herself. That is, to act in a manner that is not true to their own personality.

Readers/Writers, what do you think? Is an attitude of disobedience important in a protagonist?  Can you think of any obedient ones?