The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-09-30
CREATURES Of FICTION.
The Pains Taken by NovSiists In the
Christening Of Their
Characters.
Nice Discrimination Employed In
tho Nomenclature Of
Fiction.
Name and Character Having Boon Joined
They Cannot Be Put Asunder-
Dickens and Thackeray.

08A4 eAAss
They Cannot 80 Put Asunder-
Dickens and Thackeray.
I suppose all novelists and story-tsllofa
take some proper godfatherly or Rodmoth-
erly caro- In the christening or their GREAT
ures. II they 20 no deeper, they at least
observe the more superficial and obvious
distinctions between character Of bourgeois
and gentle blood. They seek names appro-
pirate to calling or locality, and so forth.
Most take some pains about tbs naming OF
hero and heroine. One class of novslists
appeals to a sentiment Of romance. with
high-sounding, historic namcs; an
Other. bstrays the inevitable sig
niHcancs of nomenclature By
scrupulously employing none but the most
familiar. Nothing short Of democratic
training and Bostonian naturalisna could
have hardened Mr.. Howells heart into in
fiicting upon his Lady the Of Arostook and
her many admirers, for the sake Of whatever
dramatic point, the revolving surname
Blood. Beautiful and picturesque names
are no small element in the picturesque
beauty of romance. Generations Of hearts
have beaten time to the syllables Wilfred
OF Ivanhoe or Lucy Of Lammsrmo0r. The
degradation of name 10 = bit brutal, even
for parody, in ths divsrting "Rejsotsd Ad-
dress'' which transforms
..Chares, Chester, charge! On. Stanley. on!"
We're the last words of MarmiOn.
into
'Od rot EN-"
. Were the last words Of Higginbottom.
Thanks to what Matthew Arnold termed
A.. -.ol - ~roaarnoa in Nnr rQHQ. Wa ara
beautifully provided with names Of all
shades OF vulgarity and hideousness. With
us no BOBBY or villain. at all events, need
90 inappropriately named. 1t Is unPardon-
able in fiction, however, TO burden . onarm-
ing girl with a vile name, and to make
heroes of Higginbottoms is q mere wanton-
ness OF Zolaism. Art exists to console us
for tho hardships and anomalies OF life.
In the world Of art there should be some
subtle appropriateness In tne naming OF
What should be the nature of the appro-
priateness? What should be the secret OF
the affinity? Should novolists permit them
selvea TO manufacture names with an Cd.
vious meaning. like Fislding's "Alworthy,"
for instance2 Or, like Balzac, should they
search for mystic meanings in real namss9
Gan there possibly be any affinity. apart
from the special asrociations OF . book, be-
tween a mere meaningless proper name ana
Chadband, Miss Migqs, Micawber, Peck
sniff, Sairy Gnmp-were these names once
absolutely n~on-signifcant? Surely, in the
moro name of Mioawber there already
Turk suggestions of a waiting for something
to turn up. Enthusiasts have been known
to protest that from silas WegR's bare
name they OWNED the whole man. wooden
leo and ali. Not 4 bit of it, retorts ration
alizing ~mmon-ssn make the expert
mont in a properly scientific spirit and SEQ.
Get a man innocent of Dickens to evolve
H..- 49, l~4A.~u ~ tho ~rrH PAckan{H the
character of the Salisbury architect; OF
from the data of a misshapen body and sly
domestic cruelty. ask him to construct the
name Quilp. Well, and aupposs he fail,
theory. Nature undoubtedly affords
abundant instances of mysterious
afdnitiss between apparently het,
erogeneous things. Scents, sounds and
colorz have infinite capacities of spiritual
suggestion. Herein lies the secret OF the
botency of the senauous arts. What analy-
sis could exhaust the possible suggestive
ness of namos? There are forebodings in
the mere sound of the syllables. and mys-
FERROUS intimations in the mere look OF the
al explanation. On this groundwork asso-
ton has woven threads of suggestion. phi
Illogical, historical, romantic. II is true
that it il only after name and character
have been Joined together by the inspira-
ton of the author that they cannot again
O6 Jul buAlAU DNU pA0 AAN
veals, and does not begst, tho elective AZ
fnity. e. 81
or the element of realism predomlnates in
the artists method. will be the wisdom or
unwisdom of employing realistic or a!lsgol-
ical names. Where allegory performances,
as in ''The Pilgrims Progress" where our
attention is directed, as in the motley
crowd who people the English comic stage,
Chiefly to the skill of the dramatlSt III
-L--:-r- - Ah> FoiE1oo ~ humanity and
winding mean and vicious actions into stu
atoms OF laughabls ENHANCEMENT. then
names which point the character and OK
plain situations come naturally, IN place.
Whore, however, it is thought to stir
pity and fear and sympathy with
the suferinga and heroism Of men
and women; where. as in tragedy, self
conscious observation of the writer's art
should be loss-in overwhelming feeling tor
the hero's destiny. then, 80 far as know,
names of this kind Shakespeare is sparing
in the use: Justice Shallow, Slender and
Silence, with Fang and Snare, tina sheriff
oflcers-the majesty of the law always
fares badly in the hands OF satire; tho
constable, Dull; Froth, a foolish gentleman;
Martsxt. ! v,oar: and that ragged regiment
of Falstaff's recruits, Mouldy, Shadow,
Wart, Feeble and Bullcalf-thess most
exhaust the list.
It is not difficult to sec with how much
natural ease Dickens can Introduce his
Jinples and Veneerings. The art of Dickens
is often the, art Of caricature, often it is the
art Of farce. His world is n Rrotesque,
pathetic. lurid, ludicrous world of his own.
He has brought together a toeming popula-
ton of quacks and mountsbanks, and waits
snd strays, and monstl ~osities, for whom his
most extravagant nanos are accepted rs the
only natural and proper ones.
What shall We aay, however, of Thnckeray
and his Dsuceaces and Bareacess and the
rest2 His Justification, If it be right to
speak of justification, lies in this, that with
all the solid reality of the life portrayed,
we are nsyar allowed to lose sight OF the
author and hia art in portraiture. He is
ever at hand to underline the snobbery o.
laugh off the pnthos. He is especially fond
OF putting on tho airs and eraces OF the
Snowman. His preface o..'Vanity Fair" il
headed, Before the Curtain;"' and this