Lisa Simpson

**Lisa Marie Simpson** (born May 9, 1981) is the main character and the main protagonist of The Simpsons. She was named after a train called Lil' Lisa on her parents' 1st anniversary. She is a charismatic 8-year-old girl, who exceeds the standard achievement of intelligence level of children her age. Not to everyone's surprise, she is also the moral center of her family. In her upbringing, Lisa lacks parental involvement of Homer and Marge, which leads to hobbies such as playing saxophone and guitar, riding and caring for horses, and interest in advanced studies. In school, Lisa's popularity is affected by those who view her as a geeky overachiever, which leaves her with only a few friends. She focuses on her goals and strives to reach her potential, and at the age of eight she is already a member of MENSA with an IQ of 159.

## Appearance

Lisa has yellow skin, blue-grey eyes, and blonde sun-shaped hair. She is usually seen wearing a strapless red dress with a zigzag hem, matching red strapped Mary Jane shoes, frilly white underpants, and a white pearl necklace (given to her by Marge), though sometimes wears different outfits. She has had two different outfits for church and family outings: first a magenta long-sleeved dress with a ruffled collar and magenta pumps, then a baby pink short-sleeved tutu dress with a darker pink belt, a wide brimmed hat with the same color scheme, and strapped pumps much like her usual ones. At night, she dresses in a turquoise nightgown with a frilly white collar and matching cuffs, as well as turquoise slippers. Lisa brings in a new outfit at least once every season. When Marge insisted on sending her to ballet, she wore a leotard and tutu in the same shade as her new church outfit, and pink ballet shoes. At her tap dancing lessons, she dressed in a magenta vest, pale pink tights, a violet tutu and black tap shoes. When Lisa swims, she wears a magenta or red swimsuit.

## Personality

Lisa is an innovative, insightful and extremely intelligent girl, far exceeding the standards of an third grader especially in Springfield. Part of her intelligence is due to being so dissociated from her idiotic father whilst growing up and it was strongly implied that her brains were a result of her grandmother; Homer could never keep up with his daughter's startling intelligence due to his slow wit and stupidly, his laziness and their contradicting vices and opinions caused a strained relationship and she practically grew up without a father figure, specifically not a model one (although Homer probably wouldn't have been much help even if he was involved in Lisa's life). As intelligent as she is, her family never encouraged her gifts and her school lacked the resources to blossom her IQ further but overall Lisa has the most promising future. Since she was a baby, Lisa has displayed intellectual independence from changing her own diapers and solving mathemetical solutions when she was only an infant. She could be classified as a child prodigy.

One of her negative traits would be her penchant for narcissism. In one of her daydreams, she envisioned herself as bringing about world world peace and being revered by world famous scientists, chanting in her presence "we're not worthy". She prides herself on her intelligence and integrity but if her ego is at risk, displays a willingness to breach her morals such as sabotaging her rival Alison's diorama at the school fair, humiliating her in front of her peers. Even so, Lisa's conscience is too strong to commit an unethical act and not punish herself such as giving herself an F for her test which she cheated in and apologising to Alison for her act of sabotage.

## History

Lisa is quite eclectic in her knowledge and is notably more concerned with world affairs and problems than her cohorts, which has led her to alienate herself from her peers. Lisa also deeply values her integrity, sometimes at the expense of others' needs and happiness, as demonstrated when she cheats on a test in The Wind in the Willows to attain her highest grade of A plus, but later admits her dishonesty to an unreceptive Principal Skinner despite the fact that such a grade allowed the school to gain the extra income it 'desperately' needs. (She later regrades the test as an F.) Also Lisa was willing to tell everyone about Bart faking his kidnapping attempt to go to a concert, despite the fact that absolutely everybody involved in the case was better off just because she could. Despite her intellect, Lisa has received detention, like her brother Bart, quite a number of times, often because of her rebellious and sometimes bitter attitude and antisocial behavior that is capable of deeply embarrassing authority figures. Although her rebellion against social norms is usually constructive, Lisa can be crazy, cruel, and rebellious at times. When she believes herself to be right she won't admit that others could be as well, and will often force her beliefs onto people. Notably, her increasing sense of moral righteousness regarding her vegetarianism leads her to proselytize, culminating in her spiteful disruption of a "meat-based" barbecue prepared by Homer (an act she comes to rue). At times, Lisa appears to resist certain situations merely for the sake of resisting them, not because of any genuine ideological opposition. She appears to enjoy breaking the norm for its own sake; in one time, she triumphantly declares that she, a girl, would like to join the football team. When it is revealed that there are already girls on the team, she declares her distaste for a sport that would use a pig's skin to make its ball. When it is revealed that the ball is actually synthetic and the proceeds of buying it go in part to charity, she is at a loss for words and runs off visibly upset.

She also seems to dislike having her intellect challenged, which is evident on occasions such as when she was temporarily promoted to the third grade or when Miss Hoover gave her a B+ on her final grade for conduct and actually caused her physical harm because of it. Lisa's first word was Bart at two years of age. Despite her high IQ, cuteness and beauty, Lisa does have typical childhood issues, sometimes requiring adult intervention. She once tricked Homer into allowing her to ride the bus alone, only to become hopelessly lost. After his coworkers Lenny and Carl point out that he allowed his daughter to ride a bus by herself, Homer comes to her rescue.

Lisa has a Jewish imaginary friend named Rachel Cohen who "just got into Brandeis University." Even with a high intellect, Lisa displays personality traits typical for her age, including obsessing over getting a pony, being addicted to TV, and fighting with Bart. Lisa once got addicted to second hand smoke to maintain an impressive level of ballet competence; Homer tries to prevent the addiction unsuccessfully, and in the end Lisa overcomes the addiction herself through means of "Hello Kitty" nicotine patches.

She also displays a surprising amount of skill in driving, especially for her age, sometimes even taking the wheel whenever Homer ended up distracted from driving. In "The Girl Who Slept Too Little", she struggled with nightmares after a cemetery was moved next to the Simpsons' house. She overcame her fear after spending a night in the cemetery and realized that it was acceptable to suffer from fear despite her intelligence. It was revealed in this episode that Lisa largely had to raise herself due to Homer and Marge dealing with Bart's antics thus ensuring a lack of nurturing for her. Lisa has been known in earlier seasons to have a bit of a sassy attitude. Like Bart and most siblings in families, Lisa has been known to tease Bart herself, examples such as; crushes Bart has developed, or advice on writing to someone (in this one case, his teacher), even just plain sassing him for attention. Deep down inside, Lisa loves her brother deeply.