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Amaranth Rat Blog Entry |
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November 17, 2023, 1:00:07 AM 11/17/23: r/SketchDaily theme, "Music Week: Free Draw." In the absence of a specific song I just did my regular Free Draw Friday. This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is Private First Class Amaranth Rat. He's a young intern and medic who ends up taking Indigo's place later in the story. Still learning the ropes but has a level head even under pressure. There'll be more about him later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. TUMBLR EDIT: Firstly, I believe Amaranth spends much of the story as a PFC yet gets promoted later, so if you see him referred to as Lance Corporal (like in Nikolas's entry), that's why. Amaranth's character and personality aren't too developed just yet; he's a relatively minor character as things currently stand, though I could easily see him earning a bigger role. This in fact happens near Reunion's end, when Indigo is killed in action and someone is needed to take his place in the medical ward; Amaranth, who spends most of the series in a role secondary to Indigo's, accordingly steps forward, albeit reluctantly, to do the job. He should probably get a bigger role elsewhere in the story so his new role at this late point is more poignant. So, there is certainly room for him to do some more. What little I know of him so far: He's one of the few characters I originally created as a different race, in this case African-American; it isn't dwelled on much, but the Trench Rats are an integrated battalion, though of course the vast majority of them are Caucasian. I tend not to create many characters of non-Caucasian races (or draw many non-Caucasian people in my art) as it makes me feel very ill at ease trying to depict them without them becoming a caricature or, at best, a character based solely on race representation; I grew up and live in a pretty non-diverse area, and have known literally two Black people in my entire life--both of them adopted into white families. I believe "Write what you know" has loads of exceptions (I mean...look at what I write), but race isn't one of them. Case in point, two more characters I haven't drawn yet, who played important roles in the older versions of the story but have since faded into the background, Red Rat and Purple Rat. These two are also intended to be Black. And their original depictions in the story were...just awfully, horribly racist. ;_; Not with any ill intent, but the racism was still there. I was just unable to figure out how to indicate in the text that they're another race without it devolving into caricature. And it's just horrible and I'm truly sorry. In an effort not to make such a mistake again, I simply avoid mentioning race, so as far as anyone can tell, Amaranth is Caucasian as well. It's unfortunate, it's a kind of whitewashing in itself, but I haven't figured out a way around it yet. There it is, though, I've made it known. One plot detail I can imagine taking advantage of this is Amaranth interacting with Copper Rat at some time. Copper's ethnicity is very much made a plot point: He's mixed race, being Louisiana Creole, and this plays a big role in his personality and interactions--he knows he perplexes people, and takes advantage of it, especially when it comes to the Nazis, who find his very existence abhorrent. I can easily imagine these two confronting each other in an uncomfortable fashion; while Copper makes a big point of his race, I suspect Amaranth downplays his, so that might be a way to illustrate the issue. In regards to personality, Amaranth is quiet, polite, studious, hardworking; does not seem like the sort you'd find in the middle of a noisy bloody battlefield; yet despite his unassuming appearance, he can hold his own, and he doesn't lose his cool easily. He dislikes having to take a leadership role, and does experience some doubt regarding his own talents; this becomes especially obvious when he assumes Indigo's job and is the one in charge of trying to save the infected legs of Nikolas (see Nikolas's entry); while he does manage to save one leg, he can't save the other, and chief surgeon Burgundy steps in to amputate the limb. Amaranth is left rather depressed by what he considers only a partial success, even though Nikolas thanks him for what he was able to do. So he does seem like a bit of a perfectionist and high achiever, yet definitely not an attention seeker (he expresses regret over the loss of Indigo more than once--he prefers playing second fiddle). (Another possibility for character development is depicting his interactions with Indigo. Perhaps he mentions him after he's gone as the two had a close professional relationship...? Meaning he deeply misses Indigo as a mentor and possibly as a friend.) Aside from this, I don't really know much about Amaranth yet. I do believe he'll remain at best a side character, though as I suggested, I'm open to him developing a greater role; I simply have yet to figure out how. [Amaranth Rat 2023 [Friday, November 17, 2023, 1:00:07 AM]] |