TTT: Characters with names that fit their personalities

Top Ten Literary characters with names that fit them.

Charles Dickens seemed to be the master of naming his characters appropriately. Let's see if I can fill out the list using examples from his books. I may need a little help from the Internet since I haven't read all of his books.

Great Expectations

1. Pip (Great Expectations)--- a "pip" is a seed, or a tiny thing. Pip grows into himself throughout the story, like growing up from a planted seed.

2. Oliver Twist (Oliver Twist)---the runaway orphan ends up in a gang of pickpockets and n'er-do-wells. If he continues in this lifestyle he very well may end up being arrested and hanged for his crimes. The term "twist" was used to describe what would happen after a person was hanged. Another interpretation could be that Oliver seems to be able to twist out of several sticky situations.

3. Ebeneezer Scrooge (A Christmas Carol)---the term "scrooge" probably came from a play on the word screw which meant miser in 19th century lingo.

4. Mrs. Havisham (Great Expectations)---break apart her name into syllables and you get "have-a-sham". Her life is a sham and she inflicts this on Pip when she leads him into thinking she is his benefactor and that Estella loves him.

5. David Copperfield (David Copperfield)---Take the initials, DC, and turn them around, you get CD or Charles Dickens. Dickens mined his own life (Copper-field) for character traits.

6. Mr. Merdle (Little Dorrit)---merde is the French word for excrement. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that Mr. Merdle is full of s#*t.

7. Fagin (Oliver Twist)---Fagin is the villain of the book. A fagin is a person who teaches crime to others.

8. Tiny Tim (A Christmas Carol)---not only was he sickly, but the boy was also small for his age, a common problem for poor children of the Victorian age. Scrooge pays Cratchit so little that his children, especially Tim, are sickly and undernourished.

The Artful Dodger by Clarke

9. Mr. Stryver (A Tale of Two Cities)---Stryver is an ambitious lawyer, he is always striving for more. Get it?

10. Artful Dodger (Oliver Twist)---um, this one is so easy I didn't even need notes to figure it out. The boy, a pickpocket, is very good at getting away and not being captured. His given name, Jack Dawkins, could also apply to his skill level...he was a jack of all trades (in the underworld.)

This was fun. Can you think of any other Dickens' characters with fun names which fit their personalities?