Answer — Exercise 5

1 → Who is your favourite fictional character?

• Speaker 1 → Philip Marlowe
• Speaker 2 → Elizabeth Bennett
• Speaker 3 → the old man from The Old Man and the Sea

2 → How do you visualise them (what do they look like)?

• Speaker 1 → like Humphrey Bogart: tall, good-looking, tough
• Speaker 2 → quite tall with a very lively, mobile face and possibly dark hair
• Speaker 3 → quite old, big strong hands that were cut and bruised, a little bit of grey hair

3 → What personal traits do they possess (type of character)?

• Speaker 1 → doesn't always say the right thing, always has a clever retort, has real problems, very clever, very tough, likes to get to the bottom of the problem
• Speaker 2 → sparky, lively, feisty, lippy (talks back to men), takes control of her own life
• Speaker 3 → wise, took pride in his job, did his best

4 → What memorable things do they do?

• Speaker 1 → unlike most modern characters, he doesn't always win/isn't always on top of the situation
• Speaker 2 → takes control of her own life, goes for the guy that she really loves, wins her guy in the end
• Speaker 3 → dragged himself out every night, cast his nets, hoped he would catch something

5 → What problems do they overcome?

• Speaker 1 →solves murder crimes
• Speaker 2 → women had little control over what happened to them in the marriage market, people thought she was socially unacceptable
• Speaker 3 → he was down on his luck in the story, hadn't caught anything for a long time, had little opportunity in life

6 → Do you know anyone like them in real life?

• Speaker 1 → doesn't say
• Speaker 2 → doesn't say
• Speaker 3 → the speaker's father