“It is not merely true that a creed unites men. Nay, a difference of creed unites men – so long as it is a clear difference. A boundary unites. Many a magnanimous Moslem and chivalrous Crusader must have been nearer to each other, because they were both dogmatists, than any two agnostics. “I say God is One,” and “I say God is One but also Three,” that is the beginning of a good quarrelsome, manly friendship.”
-GK Chesterton, What’s Wrong with the World
We hear that opposites attract. It’s true when dealing with magnets, and sometimes true with relationships. But it’s always true that literary characters attract readers when there’s a polar opposite of each major character in a story.
Batman, a dark, surly, virtuous and protective hero, found his opposite in the flamboyant, colorful and murderously capricious Joker. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsbyis a tender, rags-to-riches figure motivated by misplaced pure love. And he is contrasted with the hulking, shallow Tom Buchanan, born to power from wealth and flaunts it at every opportunity with the unthinking cruelty of a human earthquake.
The most interesting characters in literature often have an opposite, a kind of foil to bring distinctive characteristics of the hero into greater light. Batman’s no-nonsense approach might turn us off after a while, if we weren’t even more annoyed by the Joker’s penchant for gassing innocent people to death and giggling about it hysterically. When Tom cheats on his wife and breaks his mistress’s nose with no effort or remorse, Gatsby’s gentle attempts to coax Daisy back to his (now) wealthy side generate an even greater degree of sympathy from the reader.
Character opposites don’t need to be on the good guy/bad guy side to engage the reader. Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy are on opposite ends of a constant logic-versus-emotion debate. But their mutual affection and loyalty to one another, their captain and the Federation superceded their differences, allowing their arguments to become an enjoyable meme rather than genuine conflict. In the first Star Wars film, Luke Skywalker was inexperienced, cautious and prone to whining, while Han Solo smirked at danger, never complaining about the odds or the dangerous bounty hunters after his hide. In my own novels, I try to show this via the young, naïve, Catholic convert Gilbert Chesterton’s best friend, the worldly-wise, atheistic teenager H.G. Wells. It falls to Herb to teach Gil about the world’s subtleties and dangers, and Gil challenges Herb about his cynicism and dogmatic humanism.
In all three cases, mutual loyalties allow characters with opposing worldviews to bond and respect one another. Without that commonality, antipathy naturally arises. Tom Buchanan duels with Gatsby for Daisy’s love, albeit symbolically over mint juleps. Obi-Wan and Darth Vader duel, not just to settle a personal grudge, but to decide who will be Luke’s true mentor. And, I was happy to find, in my own work, The Tripods Attack, one astute critic [in my own relatively humble and fairly unbiased opinion] noted the arguments between Father Brown and the Doctor are not the verbal sparrings of comrades, but smaller skirmishes in the greater conflicts of Catholic versus Secular Humanistic worldviews.
Another point worth noting: all the above mentioned characters have opposing viewpoints, yet are at roughly the same levels of power and status. It would not likely do, for example, to make a lowly WWII private have Adolph Hitler be his opposite, for example.
However noble or despicable you decide to make your characters, having at least one relative opposite of each main player can bring out characteristics you want your readers to see.
Plus, let’s be honest: writing about the bad guys can be great fun.
Especially when they lose.
JDM
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John McNichol is the author of the Young Chesterton Chronicles, a Catholic adventure series that stars a teenaged GK Chesterton.
Book 2 of the series, The Emperor of North America, is available here from Bezalel Books.
Book 1 of the series, The Tripods Attack, is available here from Sophia Press.
