Scars have a way of seeming significant. Especially in fiction, where pointing out a character's scars can imply a lot about their life -- that they've been crushingly defeated at some point, or that they live dangerously. But the funny thing about scars is that humans can get them without doing anything so dramatic.
I burned myself at work recently. There's a mark on my thumb -- rapidly healing and apparently not going to scar after all, but it was a noticeable brown line of healing tissue for a week or so. Nothing interesting happened to cause it. I just picked up a plate that had a small ramekin of baked shrimp on it, and the still-hot ramekin slid and touched my thumb. That's a very ordinary job hazard for a food service worker. It's not like I was fighting anything or rescuing anyone (unless you consider waitressing a fight against hunger, or a rescue of restaurant patrons from low blood sugar).
Maybe scars are interesting because of the simple fact that they indicate action. You don't usually get a scar from sitting on the couch. Scars come about because the bearer was doing something or involved in something. There's always a story there -- even if it's a relatively mundane story like falling out of a tree as a kid, or trying to cut vegetables for dinner. The scar might not make a grand statement about your life but it still has something to say.
Humans have mixed reactions to scars. We instinctively think of clear, unblemished skin as a sign of health, so scars are often considered unappealing. Fictional villains might have an ugly scar to indicate that they're an unsavoury person. However, if scars are cast in the right light, they can can be an indication of a brave, strong warrior who can endure pain -- definitely an appealing trait in a hero or a mate.
When a scar triggers both positive and negative reactions in our minds, it's easy fuel for our imaginations. That means that it's easy for fiction to blow scars out of proportion and assume that they're always a big deal. I can't think of many characters who have minor-point-of-interest scars. And hey, why should real people have a monopoly on that? I think fictional characters should trip and need a few stitches once in a while, just like the rest of us.
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1 comments:
The only fictional scar example I can really think of is in Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey. Menolly slices her palm open while gutting fish which is pretty avergage everyday unheroic. Except it does end up being a pretty major plotpoint later because of how her family reacts to it.
I know I've read other books with "heroic" scars but they apparently left little impression whereas I can remember crying angry tears over menolly's fish-gutting scar. And now I want to reread the Dragonsinger series.
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