We recently discovered something we didn’t know about the Steig Larsson books — that he modeled his introverted computer hacker protagonist, Lisbeth Salander, on childhood favorite Pippi Longstocking. When delivering his Millenium series to his publisher, Larsson wrote, “My point of departure was what Pippi Longstocking would be like as an adult. Would she be called a sociopath because she looked upon society in a different way and has no social competence?” Well maybe, but we have to agree with Slate‘s analysis that cheery, delightfully odd Pippi Longstocking is not a believable younger version of the tough-as-nails Lisbeth Salander. Nevertheless, the idea got us to thinking about other literary legacies, and whether any of our favorite young characters might have grown up into other, older literary figures that we know and love. Click through to check out the pairs that we came up with, and let us know who you think would grow up to be who in the comments.
Holden Caulfield and Jay Gatsby
While many comparisons come to mind for Holden (Hamlet and Seymour Glass being two of these, though each is overly generous to that snotty, sighing teenager), we think Gatsby fits like a well-crafted glove. Holden is American literature’s archetype for teenage angst and refusal to grow up, and Gatsby — a man building his world around a childhood dream — seems a natural extension. Though Holden came from as rich a family as Daisy could have hoped for and Gatsby was forced to make his money himself, we would also find it evilly satisfying (and, let’s face it, realistic) if Holden grew up to be to a man as phony as Gatsby.
Comments (6)
Anne Shirley growing up to be Elizabeth Bennet, I could definitely see that and Sherlock Homes and Encyclopedia Brown is a no-brainer that’s for sure.
Emily, your post are always spot on. Cheers.
This is a really creative post, with really sound reason.
However, I must disagree with Harry Potter being a youthful incarnation of Quentin Clearwater. The assumption does a disservice to each of the characters and their literary worlds. Yes, they both weather fits of youthful angstiness, but that’s about as far as it goes, in my opinion. I found Quentin to be flimsy of will, whereas one of Harry’s foremost qualities are his pigheadedness and bravery, of course. Though they may spring from similar landscapes, their characters seem highly disjointed to me.
This being said with all due respect, Miss Emily.
Anne of Green Gables is her own literary adult.
I think it more likely that Pippi Longstockings would grow up to be someone like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.
Anne Shirley is definitely her own adult.
As for Holden, he could go one of two ways… Jay Gatsby as previously mentioned or, I’d like to think Howard Roark, assuming he learned something in life.
Slightly off topic, but along the same vein, I’d love for Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn to be some of Jo’s Boys. :-)
I’d buy Anne as Elizabeth (and I enjoy the idea!), except that she DID grow up in the original books– so the grown up version of Anne is, like, grown-up Anne. That said, the two are similar.
I can’t really buy Lyra as Jane Eyre, though. I think adult-Lyra would be much more formidable, off doing things and exploring things and breaking things and accomplishing things and having grand adventures. Jane managed love and marriage, but not really anything else.
Love the rest, though!
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