Top Ten Tuesday

Tuesday? Already? Actually, my thinking that Tuesday has come around fast is a complete lie, since I was in a meeting at work yesterday that felt like it was actually 5 million years long (and I can't confirm that it wasn't!) So only the day at the top of my screen convinces me that it actually is Tuesday. And, as we all know, that can only mean that it's time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted, as ever, by the wonderful The Broke and the Bookish. And this week's topic iiiiiiiiiiiis:

Top Ten Rebels in Literature


1. Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee- I mean really, this man risked social exclusion (which, considering the society, wasn't really that big of a deal) and even his own life to do the right thing, and, as a natural side effect, to teach his children the right thing as well. All other rebels have nothing on Atticus.

2. Tyler Durden from Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk- I know Tyler Durden is basically a psychopath, but he is a pretty big rebel is he not?! As the narrator tries to pull him back, Tyler just keeps getting more and more outrageous, and tries to make the things that he thinks should happen, happen, no matter what other people, or, you know, the law, might tell him. Total rebel!


3. Roland Deschain from The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King- Roland is a rebel in that he is completely focused on his goal and is physically unable to give up on it, to the extent of pigheadedness and, sometimes, foolishness. Nonetheless, this tunnel vision means that he must rebel against any obstacle to his path, because that path is the only right way for him. He is to be both pitied and admired for this, but he is still a completely awesome rebel.


4. Snape from Harry Potter by JK Rowling- Snape, who we thought had rebelled in one direction, actually ended up rebelling in the other, and all for love. Awwwww, basically! It's really difficult, having been induced to hate the man for 6 books, to suddenly have to completely and utterly love him, but that's what happens, all because of the whole unrequited love thing.


5. Cry Baby Walker from Cry Baby- If you haven't seen Cry Baby then I really don't know what to do with you! But Cry Baby is clearly a tongue-in-cheek rebel, complete with motorcycle, tattoos, and like totally square girlfriend. Combine that with some fascinating/disgusting kissing lessons, and Cry Baby is probably my very favourite rebel of all!


6. Robert Thorn from Soylent Green- This guy risks his entire life to try and save the people of a horrifically overpopulated future New York City. He does it only because of the people he could save, without a second thought to what revealing to everyone what he knows could mean for him (i.e. his death). Even though he's played by Charlton Heston, he's still pretty bloody amazing.


7. Reverend Casy from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck- The Reverend is probably the deepest thinker in The Grapes of Wrath, but as well as that, he converts these thoughts into actions, and tries to make a real difference, which the authorities definitely don't like, but I really really do.


8. Salman Rushdie- This guy stood up (and continues to stand up) for his own work, believing so completely in the power of free speech that he refused to even let a fatwa (an essential death threat) stop him. Totally rebellious and awesome.


9. Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty from On the Road by Jack Kerouac- These guys, of all my rebels, are probably who I would most like to be. They are almost completely free- as long as they've got a little bit of money for gas and food, they can go anywhere they want and do anything they want. I'm not without reservations for the book (it's pretty sexist, for one thing), but the way these guys live seems to me to be the ultimate way to live, and yet it's not what society expects of you. To rebel, then, seems to be the only way to live the life that you actually want.


10. Winston Smith from 1984 by George Orwell- Well, he was at the start anyway. I know that he sort of chickens out of the whole thing (and my god, how depressing is it that he does?) but while he is rebelling, he's sort of awesome. Fight the power and all that stuff etc!

So these are my favourite rebels. How about you? Getting ten this week was a bit of a struggle, so I'm sure everyone else's lists will inform me of the amazing rebels whose identities have eluded me thus far! I have in the course of writing this just thought of two more (Bret Easton Ellis, and Frank Abagnale Jnr from Catch Me If You Can) so I can tell that today's going to be really annoying for me! But anyway, yes, tell me your rebels, or maybe just rebel and don't! Whatever. You know.