Roseanne and The Conners Character Review: Darlene Conner

*For the foreseeable future, some Character Review posts may not be published every Thursday as they have in the past.

*Warning: This post contains spoilers about the characters from the television series  Roseanne and The Conners. Read at your own risk if you have not watched the show.

There is something to be said about a well written, human character. They leap off the page and speak to us as if they were right in front of us, as flesh and blood human beings, instead of fictional creations.

In this series of weekly blog posts, I will examine character using the characters from Roseanne and The Conners to explore how writers can create fully dimensional, human characters that audiences and readers can relate to.

Having a sense of humor is a good way of getting through life. Having a sarcastic sense of humor is a great way of getting through life. On Roseanne and The Conners, Darlene Conner (Sara Gilbert) is sarcastic, creative, tomboyish and not afraid to speak her mind. The second daughter and middle child of Roseanne and Dan Conner (Roseanne Barr and John Goodman), Darlene is very much her mother’s daughter.

In her early teens, Darlene is very much a tomboy. As she grows up, she becomes very vocal about her art and her beliefs in animal rights and veganism. She also starts to date David Healy (Johnny Galecki), a young man who is usually the compliant one compared to his girlfriend. After a tumultuous time in Chicago, (where Darlene is in art school), she and David become pregnant, get married and bring their daughter, Harris into the world.

Though it appears that David and Darlene are headed toward their happy ending, their relationship ends in divorce. After Darlene looses her job, she has to move back to Lanford to live with her parents.

To sum it up: It would have been easy for the writers to create the typical compliant teenage girl. But Darlene is far from typical or compliant. Partially due to her sarcastic nature, she stands out from the pantheon of sitcom daughters. That is why audiences have loved her for three decades.

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Howards End Book Review

Sometimes it takes a moment and a spark to change a life.

E.M. Foster‘s 1910 novel, Howard’s End, takes place in early 20th century England and tells the story of the intertwining of three families. The upper-middle-class Wilcoxes, the middle-class Schlegels, and the lower class Basts. The story of how these families intertwine starts when Helen Schlagel gets involved romantically with Paul Wilcox. Telling a story about the mingling and clashing of class and sex, Foster speaks not only of his era but our era.

The impulse to read the book came from the miniseries that is currently airing on PBS. Up to this point, I’ve heard of the book but never read it. While it was a reasonable read, it is one of those books that I can check off having read. It’s not a bad book, but I was also lost partway through.

Do I recommend it? Maybe.

Throwback Thursday- Property Brothers: Buying + Selling (2012 to Present)

The process of preparing your home to be sold so you can buy another requires that the homeowner put their best home foot forward.

Property Brothers: Buying+ Selling has aired on HGTV since 2012. The premise of the program is that brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott step in to help the subject of each episode with the home buying process. But before the house can be sold, it requires some sort of renovation. While this renovation is being done, the homeowners are looking at potential new homes. At the end of each episode, the homeowner’s current home (post renovation) is sold and they will be moving into a new home.

Anyone who has read this blog knows that I have mixed feelings about the reality genre in general. This show, however, I like. It has enough of a high stakes drama to it, but it is not so derogatory that I feel my brain cells dying while I am watching it.

I recommend it.