A Personification in Writing - Essay Example

Full If Christine Were Christopher Personification is an interesting tool for which allow them to present their most unimaginable characters in a compelling manner. For instance, in Stephen King’s novel entitled “Christine”, Arnie’s car is given a feminine name and it becomes the only thing that can get in between Arnie and his girlfriend, Leigh. Men are often considered to be rough and tough and maintaining a car is therefore a job for them and certainly not for a woman. Therefore, cars are often considered feminine because men “work” on them. Men can be obsessed only in women or cars and that is perhaps the reason why King used a feminine personification for the car to make Arnie’s relationship with it look like a love triangle, that is, if Leigh is added in the picture. Using a male personification for the car could not have as compelling as when it was given a female name. In the following paragraphs, it will be made clear that if Christopher took the character of Christine, the story would not have been impressive or effective for King’s objectives in the novel. In addition, the standard perception of men in relation to cars, the stereotypical female lover who is possessive, jealous, cunning, devious and their unconventional characteristic of being a hero will be discussed to further explain why Christopher cannot be as an effective character as Christine. Arnie is the bullied type of character in his school and hometown. He is described in the novel as “pizza-face” with his pimples often oozing and he had only one friend, Dennis. This means, he was the type of guy who surely is still a virgin when his age mates changed girlfriends a number of times already. With such physical characteristics, King’s story would not be believable if Arnie suddenly turns into an extreme character, dating the most beautiful girl in school. Therefore, the author uses an obsession to an old car that Arnie thinks he could turn into a beauty, as the reason for Arnie’s transformation. When Arnie bought the car, there have been changes in his character which only girls can have an influence on in boys, or at least that is how parents often see it. He turned from the “yes sir/yes ma’am” boy he had been for seventeen years to a “man” who fights for the things he believes in. Yes, he turned into a man just like when a boy does when he gets his first sexual experience. Although Arnie’s relationship with the car is not sexual at all, the fact that it is named Christine, a female name, it is made to look like he just had his first girlfriend. Having a girlfriend adds charm to a man and so is having a car. Since Arnie owns a car now, he felt man enough to stand against anyone who would make him feel a little less, even to his parents. On the other hand, if the car was named Christopher, it would have made Arnie look even more pitiful because his obsession with the car will make him look like he is a sissy. In addition, he already had a boyfriend who did not seem to affect him as much as Christine did. One stereotype of female lovers is that, they are possessive and Christine seemed to have that effect on Leigh. When Arnie and Leigh tried to make love in the car, the girl suddenly moved out and later reckoned that the unease she felt in the car was because of the sensation that “Christine was watching them, that she was jealous, disapproving, maybe hating” (145). The female personification of the car made it sound just right for it to be possessive of the man who owned it. As a lover would feel, just like Leigh did, the car seemed to have wanted Arnie’s attention all to herself/itself and not share his affections with other women. If the car was Christopher, it would have been easy for it, just as it had been easy and logical to distance himself from his boyfriend, Dennis in favor for Leigh or more likely, Christine. However, since Christine is not Christopher, Arnie was torn between two lovers, which make the story more compelling. Another stereotypical characteristic of female lovers is their jealousy. As mentioned earlier, Leigh felt the jealousy of Christine towards her, making her relationship with Arnie go off board when they are in the car or just even near it. When Leigh nearly choked to death in the car, the couple had an awful fight before Leigh entered their house. In the car, when Leigh was choking, Arnie simply tried to clap her on the back, which would not have been helpful at all as Leigh pointed out later on. She told Arnie her fears about the car, how the car was trying to kill her and how its lights seemed to change into watching eyes. This however turned into an ugly argument which made an irreconcilable damage between the young couple. Christine’s jealousy did not just make her attempt to kill Leigh but it completely destroyed the blooming relationship of two naïve lovers. She killed their relationship and she also killed whatever is left of Arnie’s sensibility. If the car was name Christopher, he would not have fitted the cunning nature of the car. When Leigh was choking, the car seemed to have a way of distracting Arnie, preventing him from helping her at all. The car acted like an innocent and charming girl that cannot even lay a hand on a fly. Such is a stereotype often given to females but not males. Thus, if the car was Christopher, he could not be imagined to be the witty criminal who is manipulative. Men are often angry and violent. When they want to kill someone, they would do it with a knife, a gun or through a rough fight but never as cunningly as women do. Therefore, the car as Christine fits the character of a jealous female lover. In addition to being smart, women are also generally perceived as devious, doing things that make them seem ignorant when they are culpable. Again, a jealous male lover would burst into angry, physical confrontations. They could be devious and secretive, difficult to crack, too but that is only true among witty male criminals. However, a woman is often perceived as devious and vicious regardless of her true nature. This makes the personification of the car as a female character more effective than a male. In her crimes, Christine was violent and passionate, natures which could be characteristic of jealous female lovers however, she was also able to hide her guilt in a manner that only females can do. After her crimes, she was able to transform herself into the innocent-looking car that could only be loved and admired by other people, and most especially her love interest. Lastly, women are seldom presented as heroes. To break such convention and to make the story more interesting, King had to device a character that is not a woman at all but nearly like it in terms of the qualifications of a female lover mentioned earlier. A car is the nearest thing that could be in parallel to the character of a woman in a man’s life and King wanted to present a love story wherein his female character breaks the stereotype of a female in distress. Surely, a devilish car is the best character he could use to accomplish his objectives. However, since, women are not usually regarded as heroes; he made Christine’s character go beyond what a hero is all about. She became the hero to Arnie, not only saving him but also who killing those who had wronged him. If the car was named Christopher, his character would not have make sense because no male hero saves a man in distress. Anyway, Dennis was not only a good friend to Arnie but he has always been there for him, watching his back, saving him from his bullies but the male-male relationship was ordinary therefore, boring. If the car was male, Arnie’s relationship with it might have just been as boring and uneventful as his relationship with Dennis. In conclusion, the personification of the car as a female character was still the best that and most effective. Relationships between opposite sexes are ordinary and acceptable but the presence of a third party makes an interesting story. Since the owner of the car is the male character, it was but right to have the car personified as a female, a lover. The characteristics that the car portrayed are rightly descriptive of a female lover so that naming the car Christopher would have made a very wrong impression on readers. Just like a female lover, Christine was possessive, jealous, cunning and devious. Moreover, its character was made even more interesting as it was presented to be a hero, a role often given to male characters. Such twist did not just make a new perspective of the female character but it also made the unbelievable circumstances believable. Read More