You find the most interesting characters in books. People in books aren’t quite as idealized as they are in movies and television, but they still manage to command a special place in our hearts. There comes a time in the reading life of every bookworm when you put down your paperback, sigh wistfully aloud and will yourself to disappear into the pages.

Sherlock Holmes

Tall, suave, piercing grey eyes, luxurious dressing gowns. How can you not love a guy who is a genius, uncommonly strong and willing to help any distressed person who comes his way? The Sherlock Holmes we have loved for more than a century is today the most recognized character in literature.

Atticus Finch

Maybe this is that whole Freudian thing. The father from To Kill A Mockingbird is the wisest man you’ll ever read. He is an advisor to his children, a rock of tranquility and calm. He’s a safe welcome place in a confusing, hate-filled world. His ability to settle disagreements and his willingness to do what no one else will simply because it’s right makes him the most beloved father in American literature

Holden Caulfield

The troubled rich kid in New York has become a symbol of alienation and loneliness. And alot of us feel like that sometimes. When the literary journey of a character coincides with our own travels through life, the connection with that work and that writer is solid. In such cases, we imagine ourselves within the story.

This is explains why a reader in O magazine said she loved Holden Caulfield and remembered thinking that all he needed was a nice Jewish girl like herself to help him straighten out. I read the reader’s remark and laughed: upon first reading The Catcher in the Rye, I thought the character should meet a nice black girl and leave all the phonies with their tongues wagging scandalously.

Fitzwilliam Darcy

Mr. Darcy seems arrogant, stubborn, proud. But appearances can be decieving. The ultimate lesson in Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice is about judging based on appearances. Mr. Darcy is perhaps the most desired man in fiction, period. One might argue that the romatic comedy genre, the classic girl-meets-boy story began with Austen and her universally acknowledged literary masterpiece.

Athos, Porthos, and Aramis

Alexandre Dumas The Three Musketeers is a classic in many genres: French literature, adventure, historical fiction. We travel back in time with D’Artagnan and meet three of the most fascinating people in literary history. Each of the three inseparable musketeers is an honorable man with his own style and personality.

Emily Dickinson said there is no frigate like a book, and she was right. We love the characters in books for many reasons: they have attributes that we wish to cultivate in ourselves, or maybe they remind us of other people in the ‘real’ world. So, which classic literary characters tug at your heartstrings?