6 Literary Characters You Wish Were in Your High School
Some of the best books are the ones chock-full of characters we wish we could know in real life. Here’s a few of our favorites we’d be happy to call classmates. HAGS and KIT, guys!
Fred and George Weasley—Class Clowns from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: As consummate class clowns and master mischief makers, Fred and George Weasley would be welcome in any high school class. They can make even the most mundane Monday into the perfect day for shenanigans.
If Fred and George were in one of your classes, you’d never be late…even if it was just so that you wouldn’t miss their lastest and greatest caper. Heck, even teachers like the Weasley twins, though they try not to show it for reasons of professionalism. Good ol’ F&G are every teacher’s headache and every student’s hero.
Father Bobby Carillo—Best Guidance Counselor from Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra. Sleepers is about a group of boys with only one adult in their life who truly cares about them: Father Bobby Carillo. We all wanted an adult confidant in high school—someone to tell us it gets better, someone to show us a light at the end of the seemingly endless tunnel—and Father Bobby is that person.
He wants all children to do something great with their life, to be better than the previous generation, and he was the type of person we all needed between the ages of 14-17. He would go to war for his kids and he would go against everything he has ever believed in to lie for them and to save their lives. That kind of stuff is way more important than helping pick extracurriculars.
Charlie—Shyest from The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky: As the book’s title might suggest, Charlie is the quintessential wallflower. Everyone knew a Charlie in high school and if you were anything like me, all you wanted to do was hug them and bring them into your circle of friends.
And that’s why Charlie would be a great addition to any high school—he’s as real and approachable as it gets. His life is anything but perfect and he keeps most of his feelings locked up inside of him as did most of us in high school—all he needs is someone to reach out and make a connection. And after that, Charlie would be the perfect high school best friend/confidant because you know you can trust him with anything.
Really, there is no one more sincere than Charlie the Wallflower.
Dallas Winston—Class Bad Boy from The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Every female from freshman to senior will appreciate Dallas Winston because deep down, every girl loves a high school rebel. Oh sure, we all try to act like his immaturity annoys us, but the truth is just like Cherry Valence says in the book: “I could fall in love with Dallas Winston. I hope I never see him again, or I will.”
It’s the effect of the Bad Boy: they draw us in against our will. Smoking attraction aside, the best part about Dallas Winston is his loyalty to his friends. He acts hard and tough and cool but the truth is he literally ran into a burning building to save Johnny. Let’s face it: it doesn’t get more heroic than that.
Scout Finch—Most Loyal from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Unfortunately, we were never able to read about Scout as a teenager, but I think we can imagine who she would have become. Scout stands up for herself and for others at a young age. As a child she resorts to using her fists to shut people up but I like to think after a long talk with Atticus, Scout will have grown up into using her words for future altercations. Scout stands up for Boo, for Tom outside his prison cell without even realizing it, and for her own father.
Every high school should be equipped with more Scout Finch’s. There’s no doubt in my mind she would step in to get bullies away from their victims—in fact, she’d probably get along great with Charlie.
The Giver—Favorite Teacher from The Giver by Lois Lowry. He was originally called the Receiver, but through transferring the community’s memories to Jonas, he became The Giver. If he were in our high schools, The Giver would be the teacher who captivated everyone from the second they sat down until the final bell rang.
The Giver tells the truth as he shows Jonas (and the reader) what is really happening in the Community. He would be the teacher who wouldn’t sugar-coat the world for us. Instead, he would do his best to prepare us for the jungle we are going to enter at the end of four years—and when we finally left, he’d be the one to sit in his classroom and hope he did enough.
