Let's Talk about Murder in Fiction

Sherlock: Let’s talk about murder. Imagine someone’s going to get murdered at a wedding. Who exactly would you pick?

Mrs. Hudson: I think you’re a popular choice at the moment, dear. 

—from “The Sign of Three”, Sherlock

When I was in high school, I used to be obsessed with murder mysteries. My mom and I watched the entirety of CSI Miami, and I went on to read all the Sherlock Holmes books and fangirl about and critique the movies and shows. Nowadays, I don’t read near as many mysteries, save Sanderson’s The Alloy Era series, but I still enjoy the occasional who-done-it because of the intellectual challenge.

As I’ve gotten older and my tastes have changed, I can no longer tolerate some things that I once did. I still enjoy action and adventure, but I don’t like much violence, and I’m more sensitive to death in stories.

Death in fiction is disturbing. Sure, it’s not as intense as it would be in real life, but it’s not appealing all the same. Yet it’s there more often than not. But what exactly are the different stances on death, and how do readers deal with them?

Caution: this post contains spoilers for films The Mission and Les Miserables. Proceed at your own discretion. Likewise, this post may contain controversial opinions that are not necessarily the same as those of readers.

Pacifism vs. Revolutionaries

In the film The Mission, two priests have an argument about morality and the defense of the mission where they serve. *caution: spoilers ahead* As the Spanish are coming to claim the territory and sell the natives at the mission into slavery, one priest—who happens to be a reformed slave trader—argues that they should fight back, and the other—the man who led the first to become a priest—argues for peaceful protest.

For a while, I really struggled with the dilemma—if I found myself in the situation, which would I choose? Would I fight to protect peoples’ freedom even if it meant killing, or would I protest nonviolently, standing up with people even if it meant injury or death? And does it really matter because they both die as martyrs in the end? *end spoiler*

A little while later, I was reading Les Miserables and reflecting on the rational behind why many of the young—and sometimes old—men joined the revolution, whether it was to escape poverty and destitution, to stand up for human rights, or simply because they had nothing but their lives to lose. While I don’t remember all of the great prose, I remember thinking, “Wow, Victor Hugo is so persuasive he could convince me to be a revolutionary.”

*spoiler* Of course, like in The Mission they all die, save Marius. *end spoiler*

Another time, my dad put on the movie Tears of the Sun in which a group of Special-Ops are on a mission to rescue a doctor in Nigeria and end up bringing refugees along with them. As the team and the refugees are headed for safety, the Special-Ops team fightr off rebels along the way. My dad told me situations like the ones in the film were one of the reasons he joined the military—to protect the innocent.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” 

—Edmund Burke

In the end, I decided I’d rather be a revolutionary than a pacifist. I’m not for killing but when it comes to the innocent, I’m for protecting them.

Casual Death and the Value of Life

Perhaps one of the most disturbing moments concerning reading came when I was studying for my English Lit degree. We had read The Road for or speculative fiction and were discussing it in class. When we inevitably addressed the cannibalism present in the book, one of my classmates said, “I don’t see why the girl had such a hard time with it.” Essentially, she gave me impression that in a post-apocalyptic world, killing somebody else to ensure one’s one survive was acceptable.

I was stunned. How could somebody blatantly disdain a child’s horror and advocate for cannibalism? Weren’t they missing the point of the book?

Another novel—one that I actually enjoy—that addresses the devastation of death is Illuminae: “Sure, the story kicks off with the deaths of thousands of people, but *** forbid there be cussing in it, right?”

While profanity is a topic for another time (one I briefly touched on in Controversy in Fiction: Censorship), the book makes an excellent point. Why is death more readily accepted in fiction than swearing? So it’s okay to read about a book about genocide or a cozy mystery—an interesting choice of words—but when you have a bunch of swear words in a young adult novel reflecting the degradation of society, some readers lose their minds.

I’m not saying that I’m an advocate for swearing in fiction, but I do think it’s important for readers to establish their priorities. Perhaps one of my favorite quotes considering justice versus mercy concerning death comes from Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Ring:

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the wise cannot see all ends.”

Let’s chat! What’s your take on murder in fiction? Have any favorite quotes from fiction that influenced your stance?

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Update: next week I’ll be posting a book review a day early in celebration of the book’s release day. While you’re welcome to come by on Sunday, the review will be up on Saturday.

Similar posts: The Horror in Fiction, Controversy in Fiction: Censorship, and Controversy in Fiction: Monsters

Movie references: Sherlock, CSI Miami, The Mission, Les Miserables, and Tears of the Sun

Literary references: Brandon Sanderson’s The Allow Era, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff’s Illuminae, and J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring

Character Types: That Guy Who Just Won't Die

Have you ever gotten to the end of a book or movie, and looking back, you think about one of the characters and ask, “How are you still ALIVE?” Even though you may have watched the film or read the book, some circumstances seem a little over the top.

This post is dedicated to the survivors. To the characters who somehow managed to cheat death. To That Guy Who Just Won’t Die.

  

Disclaimer: A lot of my vocabulary comes from the American Midwest where the term “guy” is like the singular version of the southern “y’all”. Calling someone a “guy” is not gender specific and can refer to a man or a woman. In informal situations, I often refer a group of women as “you guys”. Also, because of the nature of this post, some spoilers may be present for The Hobbit, Leverage, Sherlock, Batman Returns, and Batman v Superman.

There’s a fine line between unbelievable and believable. Often times, That Guy Who Just Won’t Die crosses that line. After all, if I don’t see the body, I won’t believe he’s dead! And as my friend Faith likes to point out, sometimes not even then…

I’ve decided to rank the survivors on a scale of one to ten, one being the characters in the most intense situations who somehow still live. You’re free to debate the order. I had a hard enough time deciding myself.

10) Thorin Oakenshield and Company (J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit)

Bear with me here. Despite being a huge fan of The Hobbit, I often wonder how many of the characters survived. After all, Thorin managed to survive Smaug’s takeover of Erebor, several encounters with orcs and goblins, not to mention the mountain trolls, a thunder battle, the spiders of Mirkwood, dragon sickness, and ridiculous falls throughout the movies. It’s amazing any of the characters made out of the Shire alive, let alone to the Lonely Mountain.

Yet The Battle of Five Armies, and the last chapters of The Hobbit, reveals that not every hero lives to see victory. Unless, of course, you’re a hobbit.

9) The Red Crosse Knight (Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, book 1 of 6)

How many ways can you almost kill off a character in an epic poem? How about one for every book? Okay, so it’s not quite that many, but it’s a lot! In this classic story, the Red Crosse Knight fights off a giant and a dragon, nearly dying at least four times. But you can’t actually kill off the hero before you get to the final chapter, can you?  

8) Characters from Disney adaptations

Ever heard the phrase: life is not a fairy tale? Well, it’s a good thing it’s not! In a lot of fairy tales, many of the characters die and not everybody gets to live happily ever after. In most of the Disney adaptations, however, a parent or two might be missing, but most of the primary characters make it to the end, from Russell and Mr. Fredrickson in Up to Anna and Sven in Frozen.

7) Select characters from The Illuminae Files 

(by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff)

Granted, a lot of people do die in these books. It’s just full of so many intense situations, that I was surprised anybody survived them. I mean, without survival, there wouldn’t be a story, but still. By the time I got to the second book, I no longer expected certain characters to die,  though that wasn’t always the case because of parallel dimensions. As if space travel wasn’t confusing enough…

6) Odysseus (Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey)

I recently watched The Odyssey with my dad, and man, poor Odysseus just couldn’t get a break. Sure, he’s obnoxious in his pride, but he still manages to be the sole survivor of his shipmates on his ten-year voyage back to Ithaca despite Poseidon’s threats.

Granted, I haven’t actually read the books yet. (*gasp* I know, I’m a bad bookworm. But they’re next on my classics list.) Yet a lot of characters tend to survive outrageous situations in mythology. I’m surprised more of them didn’t die sooner…

5) Sage (Jennifer A. Nielsen’s The Ascendance Trilogy)  

This was perhaps the first book I read where I started questioning how certain characters made it to the end alive. At one point Sage literally jumps off a cliff, and the chapter ends there. If that’s not crazy, I don’t know what is. Sure, Sage’s narrating style is brilliantly humorous, but he’s also insane.

4) Eliot Spencer (Leverage)

Of his con-artist team, Eliot is known as the hitter. In nearly every episode, he’s knocking out somebody in hand-to-hand combat. But let’s face it, he’s had a lot of training. And he doesn’t always come away from every episode unscathed. But if he gets shot, he just walks it off. Or limps it off.

Parker: You’re shot. You should go to the hospital.
Eliot: I don’t do hospitals.
Hardison: I told you. He takes getting shot very lightly.
(Season 5: “The Rundown Job”)

3) Sherlock Holmes 

(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and BBC’s Sherlock)

Despite all attempts to kill off this famous and outrageously annoying detective, he’s still solving crimes. Forget Moriarty, not even the author, Doyle, could kill him off for long without the fans demanding his return.

Sherlock's survival is another reason I simultaneously like/dislike the BBC adaptation. They won’t explain why, but Sherlock is most definitely alive.

John: I’m definitely going to kill you.
Sherlock: Oh, please. Killing me, that’s so two years ago.
(Season 3: “The Empty Hearse”)

Petition to rename Season 4: Three Different Ways to Try (And Fail) to Asphyxiate a High-Functioning Sociopath. Or maybe we could just stick with Sherlock…

2) DC superheroes

Me: Why are you still alive?
Batman: Because I’m Batman.
Need I say more?

I’m still confused about Superman, though. Supposedly he’s invincible with the exception of kryptonite, but in the last couple of movies he died. Or did he? Is DC trying to be vague?

1) Basically any Marvel character EVER

Forget surviving impossible situations—most Marvel characters just come back if they happen to die. Thor dies and comes back. Loki fakes his death at least twice. Captain America gets frozen and comes back. Bucky falls off a cliff but somehow manages to survive. I don’t even know how many times Wolverine regenerates. I could go on. Whether coming back disqualifies them from That Guy Who Just Won’t Die status, I’ll leave up to you.  

Now, before you think that characters are basically invincible (if only), remember that they’re not. Go watch a Shakespeare play (pick a play, any play) or read Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” (hint: it’s not terribly happy). Death is a common occurrence in literature, just like life, which just makes the survivors that much more peculiar or fantastic, depending on your perspective.

Personally, I find this character trope to be a little annoying and really overused. Sure, to have a good story, you need good suspense. But not too much, or it’s unbelievable.

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Similar posts: Everybody Lives and Character Types: Christ Figures

Film references: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Desolation of Smaug, and Battle of Five Armies; The Odyssey; Leverage; Sherlock; Superman Returns; Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice; Thor and Thor: The Dark World; and Captain America: The First Avenger.

Literary references: J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit; Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, book 1; Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff’s The Illuminae Files; Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey; Jennifer A. Nielsen’s The Ascendance Trilogy; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes collection; and Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings”.

Let’s chat! On a scale of Macbeth to Wolverine, how likely is your favorite character to survive to the end of the story? Which characters are you surprised made it out alive? What is your take on the Guy Who Just Won’t Die? Yea or nay?  

Everybody Lives

Once upon a time, writers used to create stories not just for popular entertainment but also with some sort of message or theme. These writers used to write stories that contained some realistic element, and—believe it or not—characters actually used to die. Today we’ve gotten past all that. Writers recognize the audience’s favorite characters and refuse to kill them off, even after they die. Everybody lives. Shakespeare would be appalled.

Okay, so I am being a little overdramatic (But I’m a writer. That’s a given, right?). Of course there are still writers who don’t just write for the masses and writers who kill off characters. But there is a trend in many franchises where none—or rather most—of the characters die.

If you don’t believe me, take the Marvel movies for example (I actually happen to like these movies; I’m just using it as an example). If I were to rename The Avengers, I would call it Still Not Dead. Seriously though. I would like to motion for a renaming of both Thor movies to Loki “Dies” parts 1 and 2.

This is even the case for some books. For example, despite Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s hatred for Sherlock Holmes, Doyle (reluctantly) brought him back to life because of readers’ demands. And readers today have not changed such demands for characters.

For writers today, this can be very frustrating. Readers get angry when their favorite characters are killed off while other writers are criticized for not killing off characters. Why is this? Because there are generally two kinds of audiences—those who want the “happily ever after” stories and those who want the “Shakespearean ending” (not all Shakespeare plays are tragedies, but for my argument, I will refer to these).

So which kind of audience is right? Is it better to read a book or watch a movie where the characters live or where characters die? I would say both are correct for different reasons. While happily ever after stories are often considered unrealistic, they may reflect some need for justice, love, family, etc., and the fulfilment of these. Other times, audiences want stories that move them not only to think but also to feel through stories that reflect the destitution of our world.

As a writer, I believe in killing off characters and their staying dead. While characters may experience many close calls, it’s not is appropriate to ruin a death scene that could mean development for the other characters. Overall, writers shouldn’t overkill characters but they shouldn’t let them persist like weeds. If fictional characters are to be realistic, they must be mortal too.

Which kind of reader are you? And if you’re a writer—if you dare answer—which kind of writer are you?

Literary References: Shakespeare’s tragedies, Marvel’s The Avengers, Thor, and Thor: The Dark World, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes collection.