Wednesday, January 19, 2011

CHARACTER BIO

This will probably be a bit dry, but in case you're interested :)
Name: Peter

Age: 30

Gender: Male

Childhood: He had a banal childhood. His parents were professors and since his parents believed they were best for their child's education, he was home-schooled. During this time, he was able to develop mentally, drawing from his parents' physics and philosophy books. Since he was exposed to these things so early in his life, he's been obsessed with them and uses them to determine his actions. However, because he was home-schooled, he didn't have a lot of opportunities to meet kids his age, and to develop socially. This has stunted his social relationships, but though he is aware of it, he doesn't know exactly how to change.

Family, friends: His parents are deceased, and they passed on everything to him. However, this leaves him vulnerable since he has no other real connections, and therefore, has no one to speak to for support. He does have one person that he would consider his friend – the woman who serves him coffee at the place around the corner. She made the mistake of giving him her number because she noticed he seemed distressed and needed someone to talk to. He calls quite often, usually about the same thing – voids, empty space, existential thought.



Era: 1970's – post moon landing, there's an intense interest in space and space exploration. Peter has always has held an interest in how insignificant life is compared to the vast expanse of emptiness in space, so since these were the thoughts were at the forefront of social conscious, it propelled his interest further.

Ethnic Background: He is first generation Canadian. His mother is from Russia, and her father from Norway. It wasn't problematic for her parents to immigrate, but due to the attitudes towards the Cold War and Canada's close relationship with the U.S., his mother felt very segregated from her community. Because of this, she spent a lot of time at home with Peter, and though he was her pride and joy, she was also overwrought by anxiety, and this is a quality that Peter adopted. His mother was never quite comfortable with other people, and Peter has always been keen on making friends, his mother is protective, and never taught him the social skills necessary for engaging with others. His father has always been distant, and spends a majority of his time working, and subsequently didn't spend a lot of time with Peter or his mother.

Religion: His parents are atheist and have always geared him towards atheism, but Peter is agnostic himself. He feels that he can never be truly believe in something without his first hand experience, whether that is in favour or against something. There may be no evidence of a God, but there is no evidence disproving an exterior force.

Profession: When he was young, his parents would occasionally host parties, inviting other professors and scholars. When his parents passed away, these same people tried to help him, realizing his genius in physics and theory, they helped get him a job as a research assistant at 18. He's worked there all his life, but hasn't been showing up as regularly as he should. Instead, he spends a lot of time at the cafe around the corner, frantically taking notes and writing down ideas.

Income: He has a modest income. Part of the deal with letting him work as a research assistant at such a young age is that he would be paid very little. He's able to sustain his himself, and with some of the savings his parents passed down to him, he's able to live fairly comfortable in an apartment in the suburbs.

Dreams: His dream is to live happily with someone to care for and but this is a deep seeded dream that he doesn't even realize. He tries to make connections but gets frustrated by his inability to do so, and thus his interest in physics takes over.

Goals/Ambition: He hopes to have a theory or phenomenon named after him, and spends all his time trying to find some sort of universal law.

Morals: He follows general moral codes quite unconsciously; he's never really taken time to consider them, but he wouldn't kill someone unless there was a definite reason for it. His morals are quite flexible in that way; they easily accommodate themselves to how he justifies his actions. However, h e tries not to do things that negatively impact the space around him.

Physical Health: He doesn't get out much. He is out of shape, but you wouldn't know from his slender figure. He never gets enough rest though and that is quite clear from the bags under his eyes and his stooped over posture.

Hygiene: He showers once a day, a reasonable amount. He has many white button-ups and polka dotted ties, but wears the same giant black coat every day, regardless of the weather. He wears beige khakis or grey slacks and changes his socks everyday. He also washes his hands multiple times during the day for fear of germ accumulation.

Diet: He subsists on cucumber sandwiches on rye with light mayo and lots of pepper. His beverage of choice is black coffee, and he will occasionally eat a fig. In addition to all the health benefits figs provide, he also enjoys how the flesh looks.

Sex Life: He doesn't consider sex a natural exercise, and believes science should divert all their attentions to relieving this cumbersome issue. It puts you in too vulnerable a state, and let's face it, it's pretty messy.

Intelligence: He takes pride in his above-average intelligence. In fact, one could have considered him a prodigy when he was younger. He likes to think of himself as a rational thinker, but that wouldn't entirely be correct. He's more of a straight forward thinker, one who expects a specific outcome out of a specific action. He disguises this linearity as rationality.

Education: Home schooling really affected his learning, because he would be considered quite gifted. However, even though his parents were both professors, he never felt the need for a university education and usually took it upon himself to figure things out. Being naturally curious helped motivate him, as well as being raised in an environment that encouraged higher learning.

Need/Purpose: He isn't really looking for acceptance from his peers or to make his parents proud. He has spent so much time being caught up in his own research that to him, his purpose is quite clear. It is to satisfy his theories regarding physics and somehow prove them. He just needs to see if there are any emotional ties holding him back before he can take the leap. If he doesn't, there obviously won't be as much of a negative impact on the world than if he had someone that cared for him.

Weaknesses: He is unable to connect on a personal level with those around him and even though he wants to, this is something that he has a difficult time to overcome.

Obstacles: A personal obstacle of his is overcoming his stunted social skills. He doesn't usually find it necessary, but in considering his deep seeded unconscious dream of having someone to care for and to love, he occasionally tries to reach out to someone. This waitress that he's focused his attentions on becomes a gauge for him to determine whether or not to test his theory on consciousness and essence. If she doesn't reach out to him or loses patience with him, he realizes his existence is inconsequential and there's nothing holding him back.

Values: He values thought and intelligence over many things, and when asked, would say that they are far superior to emotion and love. He would never admit it, but it's because he doesn't understand how emotion and love function and is confused by them when he has to deal with them.

Sense of Humour: He doesn't really have a sense of humour. He doesn't think so, anyway. He can come of unintentionally funny though from his frantic disposition and excitement over really specific physics-related things.

Fears: He doesn't fear death. He doesn't fear life. He fears not having an answer to something.

Environment (they feel comfortable in): He feels most comfortable with his notebook and a pencil. It really doesn't matter where he is, as long as he has something to write his thoughts in. The space he's in doesn't really affect him that much, but it helps if he's wearing his black coat. It's thick enough so it feels like Peter is in his own space, and the collar is high enough that he can hide himself behind it if he wants.

Self-View: His attitude of how insignificant everyone is in the grand scheme of the universe carries on in how he sees himself. He finds his own existence completely meaningless, but goes through the motions of living. This frustrates him because he feels that he should be committed to his attitude. If life is meaningless, then why not end it? He hasn't attempted suicide before this though because he is struggling to understand conscious though and where one's essence goes after death.

Nocturnal Habits: Peter is a bit of an insomniac, and is usually spending his evenings taking notes, or thinking of theoretical physics. Even when he decides to go to bed, he has a pen and pad on his night table, in case a moment of inspiration hits him. Sometimes he'll do laundry to clear his mind.

Flaws: He creates a barrier against other people as a method of self-preservation and this is the reason why it's difficult for anyone to get to know him. He never likes to be vulnerable because he wants to be in full control of his life. He doesn't understand how and why people can just live with their hearts on their sleeves. He also isn't self-aware enough to realize that whenever he calls the waitress, he comes off emotional, but hides behind the guise of his seemingly objective justifications.

Talent: If you don't consider his intelligence a kind of talent, he can also

Addictions: You could consider him a physics addict.

No comments:

Post a Comment