Understanding Characters

Those near & dear to one are not necessarily the best judges of one's own  character. This is brought out in two famous novels.

In Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind" the most quirky character is Scarlett O'Hara. Her wayward whims & fancies were beyond the understanding of her mother "A Great Lady." Though Scarlett wanted to be like her, she was not made of the same metal. She resembled more her Irish father. Her first two husbands, Hamilton & Kennedy did not make head or tail of her. Among the men, only Rhett Butler came close to understanding her. But the one who could see through her like a glass was Mammy, her childhood nurse. So only of Mammy was Scarlett also a little afraid.

In Kathryn Hulme's "The Nun's Story", even though Gabriela joined the convent & became Sister Luke & served in the lunatic Asylum & the (then) Belgian Congo, she did not fully fit into the mould of a nursing Sister. Her struggles with the rule of obedience continued unperceived by her fellow Sisters & even the Mother Superior. When this  psychosomatic stress manifested as Consumption in the fondly called "Genius of the microscope", the reasons were clear as daylight to a man, a bachelor & a "Genius of the Operating Theatre", (as admitted by Sister Luke herself to her father), Dr. Fortunati, he cured only the "by-product" as he said.  Meanwhile WW II struck, her father & brother were killed & she left the convent.