Unique, not necessarily a freak

Throughout literature you hear about unique characters with unique features. These features are what makes a character stand out, and what helps give their character more depth. The evil queen in Snow White is beautiful on the outside, but in the world of pop culture she is best known for her disguises. Particularly how she pretended to be an old, worn out woman to trick Snow White into eating the apple. This twisted, shriveled old lady is a representation of how the evil queen is twisted and shriveled on the inside. A perfect example of one way that unique marks work in literature. See the way I look at it marks work like this most of the time, they either portray what the character is actually like on the inside, like the evil queen. Or they distract from what one is like on the inside causing conflict.

A good example of this, as Foster pointed out, is Quasimodo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame. His character is deformed, twisted. Much like the old lady he is shriveled up. He barely looks human. However, on the inside he was a good guy. Sweet and thoughtful, overly kind. But because of how he looked on the outside people were distracted, and they didn't care about getting to know him on the inside. They were just scared of how he looked on the outside.

Looks can be both a blessing and a curse and that is what literature is trying to get us to understand. Don't judge a book by it's cover, as Ashley says in her article. http://thisibelieve.org/essay/93407/ First impressions are a big deal, but if you don't bother to get to know someone you might miss out on the gem they are inside, much like Quasimodo. You may look like a beast on the outside, but you could turn out to be a prince on the inside.

Many marks in literature are a way of marking greatness. Just like Harry Potter was marked for being the chosen one. The character with the scar could turn out to be the hero needed all along. The mysterious birth mark ends up marking Buffy as a vampire slayer, according to fate. It's seen throughout literature and pop culture. Being marked, whether through a scar or a birthmark, or some kind of physical defect, it means something. When Luke Skywalker loses his hand in Star Wars, it wasn't just a depressing wound. It marked him, made him similar to his father who lost the same hand. It was a metaphor, connecting him with his father indefinitely, in a way that only a physical mark can do. It's a lot like the stories about friends who make blood bonds to make them family. Their wound, their scar is what connects them. Not the silly blood ritual or whatever, but the mark that they will share forever.

Whether a mark is signifying greatness, or giving a clue into a characters true intentions, or teaching us an important lesson by distracting us from looking inside, they always mean something significant in literature.

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