When you read a book, what colour is the protagonist?

This is something that I've been thinking about - any time I read a book, the character is usually white in my head, unless otherwise specified. Is this the same with anybody else and, when a black person reads a book, what colour do they imagine the protagonist to be?

kylith

Generally the reader sees the protagonist as an extention of themselves, so they would probably share the same ethnicity, unless specifically stated otherwise in the text.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I can't read. I'm replying to this via voice control.

Mr. CooL ICE

Last book (or series of) I read was Harry Potter, so, umm... green

Micky Dolenz

Racist.

The One Who Knocks

Wait.....so what happens if this guy reads a book...does he change colour midway through the book?

Gummy Panda

Black and white

Gummy Panda

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Black and white

So, these guys then?

Mr. Rager

Ethnicity would've been a much better and less confusing word to use.

tony81

Same colour as the author... my oprah winfrey autobiography for example features a proud, strong chinese man.

Where To

I picture myself in the protagonist's shoes.

Mr. Rager

Mr. Rager wrote: »

Ethnicity would've been a much better and less confusing word to use.

Not necessarily, perhaps someone imagines all characters to be green.

syklops

Nearly always black.

some random drunk

The protagonist is always a purple giraffe named Mortimer, unless it's specifically mentioned otherwise in the text.

OneArt

Depends on where the book is set as well. If the character has a name like Ralph Rogers and lives in 18th century London, its more than likely he'll be white.

When I was reading Cloud Atlas the story about Sonmi~451 was full of characters with Korean names. So I imagined her as Asian.

OneArt

OneArt wrote: »

Depends on where the book is set as well. If the character has a name like Ralph Rogers and lives in 18th century London, its more than likely he'll be white.

When I was reading Cloud Atlas the story about Sonmi~451 was full of characters with Korean names. So I imagined her as Asian.

That means nothing. In the book, "I Am Legend", the character was of German-English descent, with blonde hair and blue eyes.. so white as white can be, really, but in the movie he became Will Smith.

syklops

Deleted User wrote: »

That means nothing. In the book, "I Am Legend", the character was of German-English descent, with blonde hair and blue eyes.. so white as white can be, really, but in the movie he became Will Smith.

Wilheim Smith isn't of German english descent???

SafeSurfer

syklops wrote: »

Wilheim Smith isn't of German english descent???

I always thought he was Irish - Italian.

syklops

SafeSurfer wrote: »

I always thought he was Irish - Italian.

Where does the Smith bit come in if he is Irish-Italian?

wnolan1992

Generally white, but that's largely due to the fact that I read books from Irish or British authors writing about Irish or British people, so it's pretty safe to assume the protagonist is white.

But even when I started reading James Patterson's books about Alex Cross, I assumed Cross was white until I was halfway through the second book and I finally connected the dots between Cross and Morgan Freeman.

krudler

White usually, although now I want to read Lord Of The Rings with an idea that all the hobbits are black, and Gandalf is Indian.

OneArt

Deleted User wrote: »

That means nothing. In the book, "I Am Legend", the character was of German-English descent, with blonde hair and blue eyes.. so white as white can be, really, but in the movie he became Will Smith.

So? That's a movie adaptation. Directors and producers sometimes take liberties and change things. Books and movies are not always the same and stories change sometimes to suit the screen.

OneArt

OneArt wrote: »

So? That's a movie adaptation. Directors and producers sometimes take liberties and change things. Books and movies are not always the same and stories change sometimes to suit the screen.

Yes, but that's what I mean - if I Am Legend is anything to go by, that section from Cloud Atlas will be all white, with Korean names.

krudler

Deleted User wrote: »

That means nothing. In the book, "I Am Legend", the character was of German-English descent, with blonde hair and blue eyes.. so white as white can be, really, but in the movie he became Will Smith.

Morgan Freeman's character in the Shawshank novella is a red haired Irish guy, hence "Red", the "maybe its because I'm Irish" line was thrown in as a nod to that in the movie. Overall it doesn't matter to me if they recast a different race actor unless ethnicity is something written as part of the character. Nick Fury is white in the comic and Samuel L Jackson in the movies, now in the comics he's black, tis all interchangeable.

OneArt

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes, but that's what I mean - if I Am Legend is anything to go by, that section from Cloud Atlas will be all white, with Korean names.

It wouldn't really make sense in Cloud Atlas, considering its set in 23rd century Korea.

Also, I said directors sometimes change stories to suit the screen. Maybe in the movie it didn't matter what colour the protagonist was, but it could've mattered in the book. If I watched I Am Legend I would accept that the main character is black, but if I read the book I'd imagine him as white. Simple as.

krudler

Tell what I do though, if I read a book after I've seen the movies its near impossible to imagine other faces other than actors in the parts, like reading Silence Of The Lambs, you just think of Anthony Hopkins for Hannibal, or the cast of LOTR etc.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes, but that's what I mean - if I Am Legend is anything to go by, that section from Cloud Atlas will be all white, with Korean names.

But it's not about what they end up looking like in the movie, it's about what they look like in your head.

I suppose I'd always use a white male as a template for a character until the book specified otherwise or hinted otherwise (i.e. if a feminine trait came up then I'd realise it was a woman, or if a certain heritage was mentioned I might imagine a different ethnicity)

losthorizon

In Watership Down I always thought of Hazel as White.

The bloody film version was crazy he was played by a rabbit

---

Most books though are set in a specific time and place and have distinctive characters so you know their race, sex etc. ( In most cases).

In very few cases are you left in doubt about these facts.

I mean in Jane Austen's novels its never mentioned that her characters are white but for the time and place you know they must have been. In Ulysses Bloom is mentioned as Jewish because I assume there are so few Jews in Ireland ( I haven't read the book).

SafeSurfer

syklops wrote: »

Where does the Smith bit come in if he is Irish-Italian?

Well Morrissey claims Irish heritage and he's one of the Smiths.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKoS5X4SMrY

Princess Peach

A bright teal

D-FENS

Often if I read soon after watching someone on TV, in a movie or even after seeing someone I know in the street, I can't help but see their face as a character in the book. Can work well at times but is often quite a strange fit to the point of being disturbing.

Cargin

Honestly I don't even consider it, unless the author goes to the trouble of pointing it out.

juan.kerr

I'm not sure I have ever read a book with a black character.