John Locke.  Yes finally John Locke’s turn.  I know a lot of people have been waiting for him because he’s a favorite.  In fact I absolutely love him myself.  What is it about John that makes him so mysterious?  I think this post will have more questions than statements, nevertheless I will attempt it.  Starting off, Locke’s history is sad.  It makes me want to cry, because if you imagine yourself in that situation, you know it would be horrible.  We never see much of his childhood.  I mean you have characters like Sawyer that showed things that happened to them as a child, and you know why they are messed up, but Locke is different.  I wouldn’t even call Locke “messed up,” maybe just “different.”

In one episode we see John give his kidney to a man that he thought loved him (his father), and then turns around and drops him with the drop of a hat.  Locke later claims to Sayid that the surgical scar was a “war wound,” and I’ve never been able to figure out why.  Maybe he is hiding his past, or maybe he really thought it happened. 

I think that John somehow always sees the big picture.  His faith is enormous.  When I say faith though I don’t necessarily mean in God.  It’s hard to pinpoint what be believes, but John definitely believes in fate, and knows that everything that happens on the island was “meant to happen.”  Gosh I love people that are like that.  I love it when people take what happens and says, “Can’t you see this was meant to happen.”  My favorite Locke quote of the entire series so far is, “All paths lead here.”  He is so right.  He’s like a philosopher.  In fact there is a philosopher named John Locke, and I didn’t know anything about him until the other day.  For a little information on the philosopher John Locke, he was a free-thinker.  Without a doubt though, believed in God.  He believed that we only saw the appearance of things as they were on the outside, but not the underlying realities which makes those things appear as they do.  Very interesting indeed.  Sounds a lot like the character.  John Locke (the character) believes that there is a lot more going on than they can see.  You have people like Jack claiming left and right that it’s just a coincidence, but John doesn’t think so.  He knows there is another meaning to it all.  And that’s what I love about him, his faith.  He even told Jack that in an episode.  He called Jack a “man of science,” and referred to himself as a “man of faith.”  That’s so awesome to me.

Why did John lie about his surgical scar?  I know I mentioned that earlier, but it’s something I just cannot figure out.  Is he ashamed of his past?  He’s such a weird guy, but at the same time he seems like he knows what he’s doing more than anyone on that island.  Isn’t that a contradiction?  He has the ability to see what’s happening, and solve everyone’s problems.  I don’t know how it’s possible, but he’s just always on top of things.  In my opinion he would make a better leader than Jack at some times during the show.  He’s the kind of guy that reminds you of a cult leader in a way.  Perhaps his miraculous healing since he arrived on the island is what causes him to believe so much.  Experiencing anything like that can change your life I’m sure.  John’s main point of view is always “The Island will tell us,” and we see through so many episodes how this seems to happen.  “The Island” shows him things through him.  For example when he and Boone found the crashed plane.  Had his legs not stopped functioning, he wouldn’t have fell down and located it.  It also just seems like Locke is supernatural.  Remember when he had the dream, about Boone, he prophesied him being bloody and claiming that about Theresa (his past nanny) and a statement that Boone sung about her.  Something to ponder though: would Boone have died if John wouldn’t have had that dream causing it.  It’s a paradoxical loop.  There is no answer to that.

What can we learn from Locke?  To be more open minded in life.  To believe that things that happen always have that “underlying” meaning.  That nothing happens by chance.  That’s a tough thing to believe though, but wouldn’t we all be at ease knowing that?  If I believed that, I wouldn’t do half of the things that I do in my life.  Like I’ve always said, I love the idea of fate and destiny, I just have a problem believing it.  I think that’s why Locke is so calm about everything.  I mean, think about when he was about to fall into the pit that the “black smoke” pulled him into.  He told Jack to “let him go” because it was all a test.  My gosh if I only had that kind of faith in life.  To John it’s all a puzzle, a puzzle in which the pieces will come together.  The island brought them there, and there is a reason.  Very inspirational.

Jack Shephard. Jack is my favorite character on the show. From the very first episode we see how willing he is to take charge and handle all these people, not only leading them, but gaining their respect in the process. Not every single person likes Jack, but I guarantee you they respect his authority. What makes Jack the way he is? Possibly his past? His dealings with his father definitely changed his life, and made him overall a better person. Or even more, the death of his father. I think that Jack feels there were some untied knots that probably should have been dealt with before his father died, but he never had the chance. Think about what happened to Jack and his father. The decision Jack made in the boardroom of the hospital was probably one of the biggest decisions of his life. It would take a lot of courage to stand up for what’s right, opposed to what your father and/or authority figure wanted you to do.  Jack never cracks under pressure either.  Calm, confident, and cool under pressure.  That’s another one of my favorite things about him.

Jack and Locke are so much alike in so many ways, but at the same time so different. Jack is a man of logic all the way, opposed to Locke being a man of faith. We can also see though, by Jack’s history, that he sees miracles happen. He sees things that are unexplainable, but that doesn’t convince him. He wants every single thing explained by science, and he doesn’t believe in fate or destiny whatsoever. He totally believes that whatever happens, happens and it was caused by the natural laws of the universe, although his past shows completely otherwise. The “they’re just numbers, Hurley,” statement is another perfect example of Jack’s beliefs. Maybe he believes in luck, or karma? Jack is a “what you see is what you get” type of guy. There’s nothing wrong with that though. Perhaps other situations in his past convince him of that. Does that tie into the good leadership role? No, I don’t think so. Because if you compare him and Locke, they are both leaders, yet polar opposites in beliefs. I can see where it can kind of annoy people the way he is sometimes. Almost like a doubting Thomas. A perfect example really. Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples, saw the miracles Jesus performed. He saw what had happened, yet he couldn’t believe it. Exactly like Jack. Perfect comparisons. Jack has seen those things happen. He has seen things that cannot be explained. He’s experienced them, yet he can’t fathom that something that cannot be proved actually happened. He doesn’t even put his faith in herbs at all. We see Sun recommend herbs as a remedy for a patients pain, and Jack refuses because he doesn’t believe in things like that. To him, it’s science or nothing. Which to me is a little ridiculous because we as humans had to rely on things like that at one point in time.

Jack is also set on saving his patients, and this is due to his history too. We see how he lost a few patients, and that definitely has an effect on him. He is willing to do whatever it takes to save someone, even at the expense of his own life, and that is a trait that is tied to good leadership. At this point, we can’t really tell if Jack’s leadership is natural though. I think he was forced into it by his father. From what you can see throughout the series about Jack’s father, is that he is a very “expecting” father, and expects a lot out of Jack. Hence the reason Jack is a surgeon. Jack keeps so much bottled up though. He’s constantly worried about everyone else, and is a bit of a martyr. You see him sacrificing his own time and risking himself to help others. Take Sawyer for an example. Sawyer treats Jack horribly, yet Jack refuses to let Sawyer suffer, and still tends to every single wound that he gets. That is very respectable to me. He’s got this attitude that he can fix anything, medically wise anyway, and he won’t take no for an answer. He is willing to work at it until he either fixes the patient or they die. There is a single word that describes Jack perfectly: committed.

Jack is just a hero in my opinion, and a perfect example of one. He does give off an arrogant vibe sometimes when he tries to get into other’s business, but you have to have a leader or people will die. That’s all there is to it. He could relax a little more often though. He’s just so busy taking care of things that he forgets about himself. I think that a lot people get aggravated by people like Jack. I know a few people that don’t like him, and I think it’s mostly because of the doubting. A lot of people resent authority figures, but at the same time look to those people to make decisions. But when the leaders make these decisions, and others disagree with them, they resent it. I’ve been in that situation before. People will look at me to make a decision, or do a certain thing, and when I do it, they disagree with how I did it, or the decision I made. It can get aggravating.

What can we learn from Jack? That the world needs to be more caring. Maybe not just like him, but in some ways, he’s the perfect example of what we should strive to become. People that think of others before themselves, willingness to lead. I believe he’s the exact opposite of Shannon. Analyze Shannon in your mind, think about it. She’s all about herself, using others for what she needs, and ignoring everything. Then look at Jack; the complete opposite. He isn’t imposing either. Jack will do whatever is necessary to make the situation right, or make it better, no matter the cost, and he’s so resilient, it’s amazing. However, he gets mad when he can’t make things right.  We see this happen a lot.  He almost changes when he can’t make something right, or when someone dies.  It’s definitely someting to do with his past.  He probably feels like he’s made a lot of mistakes that could have been fixed based on certian decisions he made.  Another thing about Jack is that he isn’t very imposing on people either. Remember the episode where Jack found out about Kate being a convict? He didn’t say a word, he didn’t run to her and say, “I know about your past, Kate!” He respected her, regardless of who she was or what she had done. Another invaluable trait in my opinion. It seems like the world just rushes to convict people about things, and it’s rare to find people like Jack in that aspect.

Hugo “Hurley” Reyes.  Hurley is a great character.  Definitely one in my top five.  Very similar to Claire in a few ways.  He’s a great person, just has horrible luck.  Perhaps his luck is due to his attitude though?  Believing that he has bad luck causes it.  In his case of course, believing his numbers are “cursed.”  One thing this show teaches us that there are very few coincidences, so to believe that the numbers are cursed just by coincidence, is quite ridiculous.  In fact, if you analyze any situation in the show, or even your life, it is hard to buy into the thought of coincidences, or “luck.”  Why do things happen like they do?  But to get back on topic, Hurley is always willing to lend a helping hand, and at times almost even seems like a people pleaser.  You’ve got to kind of pity him when people make fun of his weight, because you sit back and thing, what in the world did he do to make that person say that?  I guess that’s just the harshness of the world though.  He is also an extremely entertaining individual, and has an enormous amount of charisma.  Just for me, as a viewer, it’s hard for him to say anything without making me laugh, or at least smile, because he’s such a loveable character.  People have issues taking him seriously too.  Remember when he told Charlie he was worth $160 million?  He didn’t believe it, he thought he was making a joke, or attempting to be humorous.  I love how when there is a tense moment, Hurley has the ability to lighten the mood, and take some of the seriousness out of the situation.  Some people just have that gift.  In my opinion it’s something that everyone should learn.  The world has become way to serious.  It’s become engrossed with itself, and honestly, good people are a dying breed.  As well as honest people.  I love my friends, but I ask myself what if I had a child, would I want that person to be his/her role model?  That’s a tough question in itself.  Unfortunately though, people like Hurley get taken advantage of in life.  They may be walked all over, because of their good nature, and that isn’t right in my opinion.  We see this in an episode where one of the other characters needs something that Hurley has, and this character takes advantage of Hurley’s good nature, and of course, Hurley being the great person that he is, follows through for that person.  It’s respectable to stay that way too, in a world like ours.

Hurley is extremely secretive.  And that kind of confuses me.  I don’t think it’s a humble type thing, because he doesn’t seem like he’s that kind of guy.  It just seems like he doesn’t want anyone to know about his money, but who knows why?  Maybe he thinks that it will change people’s outlook on him.  Very similar to Sun in the fact that he has something he is hiding.  Perhaps they hide it for similar reasons?  Sun feared what her husband would do to her, Hurley fears what other people will think.  Not only does he hide the fact that he’s a millionaire, we see his hesitance to share the whole “number” situation with people too, and I don’t really understand that.  It makes me think that he’s to worried about other’s opinion on things.  That’s another thing; he’s caring almost to the point of being insecure at times, throughout the show, about others’ outlook on him.  We see this at times throughout season one just a little, but especially early in season two.  He tried Jin’s sushi, and threw up in the process, but it didn’t stop him from attempting it.  That’s very respectable to me.  Another quality the world lacks, culture, or better yet, ability to adapt.  The truth is, the world is spoiled, but there are a few good people left in it, and Hurley, although a multimillionaire appears to be one of those.  The fact that he is tied in with Locke is very cool to me.  But on the island, it’s a new life, a new beginning, and things like that don’t matter. 

So back to the luck thing, is it bad luck, or is it just the thought of bad luck causing it?  You even see throughout the entire show people giving his opinion on it.  Jack telling him they are “just numbers,” but then you have people like Locke saying there is a reason, and nothing happens by chance.  It’s a dang big coincidence, Jack.

What can we learn from Hurley?  Bad things just happen to good people.  We have all been through that.  I mean deep down, aren’t most people good?  So why do bad things happen?  We can take so many different outlooks on that.  We can blame it on our religion, our deity, our optimism, our pessimism, fate, or simply karma.  But what is it?  I wish I knew the answer to that.  I think overall though, it’s our outlook on life.  You can live life carefree.  It’s hard, but you can do it.  I’ve been at times in my life where I felt that way, and I’ve never felt better.  It’s a tough spot to get in though, because you have to wonder why things happen like they do.  All it takes to get you out of one of those moods though, is a bad occurrence.  To many of those, and you become a bitter person, and that really is sad.  You can kind of relate it to being a kid, and how you were so carefree as a child.  All that really mattered was Saturday morning cartoons, or other simple things.  Another main thing we can learn from him is that in life is that it’s very important to treat people great, because you never know who can be rich and in a powerful position.  I guarantee you all those people that cracked jokes about Hurley’s weight wouldn’t have thought about it had they known about his financial situation.  You never know who could be in a powerful position and it appear that they are nothing more than a fry cook at a fast food restaurant.

Claire Littleton.  Claire is another very interesting character.  She isn’t one of my particular favorites though, due to her whiney attitude.  It’s almost like she’s immature, and not ready for what’s been placed before her, but she’s forced to.  She claims in one episode that she’s “sick of everyone telling her what to do.”  And that can get annoying.  There are so many people out there, that are like Charlie, and just want to fix the problem, perhaps due to something in their own past, or they just feel the need to.  And although that is a great thing, I’m sure at times it can get annoying.  It almost demonstrates to that person, hey, you can’t do this by yourself, so take my help.  However, relating that to real life, I guess it is a bit true, girls do need guys in that aspect, nevertheless, Claire at time seems annoyed by it.

Overall though I would say that she is kind, caring, and usually considerate.  She’s not extremely brave, but it isn’t required of her.  She feels that need to raise her child due to the fact that she was told that she had to raise that child.  That brings up an interesting philosophical aspect of the show.  The fortune teller told her she had to raise the baby herself, and no one could do it for her, then only days later turns around and says that she should take the baby to the states for a couple that he trusts.  Just as stated in the show, did he know that the plane was going to crash?  I think so, most definitely.  But then the question arises, why does she have to raise the baby?  What is it about her that is special?  Sure there are other people that are probably more caring, but it has to be here.  That’s an interesting thought.

One thing, so far in the show anyway, that is for sure about Claire is that she has a fairly clean past, and she’s honest and open with people.  That’s a good trait to have, although it could sometimes be thought of as annoying I’m sure.  Sometimes Claire says exactly what is on her mind, without hesitation.  Wouldn’t it be great to just say exactly what is on your mind at any time?  That’s straying off topic a bit, but think about it.  Sometimes we have to act a certain way around people, just for our appearance or perception to other people.  It’s how the world turns.  Look at how Claire is though; she is one of those people that deep down, requires care.  She needs it so bad, but at the same time she feels the need to be independent.  There are people in the world designed for Claire that are meant to take care of people like her.  It’s just a matter of getting the person to understand that that’s what they require.  We see her independence shine in the same episode I mentioned in my previous post about Charlie, when Charlie wanted to deliver the baby.  She wanted Jack, but you have to wonder in the back of your mind if it had something to do with the fact that she thought that would symbolize Charlie taking caring of her.

I actually think that Claire is very similar to Charlie.  One way would be that they are both caring.  It’s almost like a chain.  Charlie takes care of Claire, Claire takes care of Aaron (The baby) Examining the overall situation on the island, characters fall into specific slots.  It’s almost like Locke takes a father type position with Claire, Charlie takes the husband role, and then of course there is her son.  Interesting name choice on Claire’s part.  Makes me wonder if there is some religious aspect to that.  Aaron, Moses’ older brother, and the name means “High Mountain,” or “Exalted.”  Very interesting.  I love also how the baby represented new life on the island.  It’s got an enormous religious undertone in my opinion.  Claire probably thinks her kid is going to be the antichrist.  You know if I remember right, and I could be mistaken, I think it was jokingly mentioned.  Maybe her care and nurturing for that kid would prevent that.  I know that’s an off the wall statement, but it’s an interesting thought.  That could be the reason the child was named Aaron.  Perhaps she wanted a name with a religious meaning.

Notice in the episode when Claire and Charlie go missing, and are gone for a while, when Claire comes back, she’s a totally different person.  She forgot exactly what happened.  The last thing she remembers was getting on the plane.  Her personality was changed a little after that.  Of course little things started coming back to her here and there, but I think she was a lot more cautious of Charlie.  How can we relate this to our life?  When we go through trials, it changes us permanently.  It teaches us.  In her case, she forgot everything, but it changed who she was as a person.  Her experience of amnesia taught her to be a lot more cautious.  Can you imagine waking up and someone telling you that?  That you crashed on a deserted island.  It tells us in life to expect anything, and know that anything can happen; no matter how crazy it is, even crashing on an island, surviving, and living there.

Starting today is the Lost character personality traits. I’m starting in alphabetical order. I will cross compare-characters when both have been analyzed. I hope you enjoy.

Charlie Pace. Charlie is a very interesting character in my opinion. Charlie almost has two different personalities, one while he was on drugs, and one after. Lets start with the first. He’s a good person, but he just has some issues that he’s struggling with. In his case, a heroin addiction. His shady past, his secrets, and his addiction just messes him up. But as stated, he’s a good guy. We can kind of relate parts of our lives to that. I think we all have things in our lives that we regret, and things that causes us to make impulsive decisions, there’s no doubt about that. Of course our situations aren’t as serious as a drug addiction would be; nevertheless, we all have things that we don’t want people to know about. Think about it, there are plenty of things in your past that is better left untold. But I have figured something out, and that is, if you are with a caring person, such as a friend, or lover, they will accept that and understand that it was a mistake.

Charlie isn’t one of the bravest guys on the island, but he defends what is closest to him. That is something else that we can learn from his personality. He is willing to fight for what he believes, no matter the cost. I mean he killed someone for what he believed, and that’s a pretty big step.

As the show progressed though, we definitely see how Charlie became more willing to stand up for what he believed, and became even braver. His heroin addiction is almost like a weak spot though. It’s hard, and that’s another way we can relate his life to ours. There are things in life that we know aren’t right, and know we shouldn’t do, but we do them because it feels good. Is it logical when you analyze it? Definitely not, but it pleases us. It gives us that feel good notion, and we don’t think about the future, just the moment. And we can all admit, it’s a great feeling sometimes. Take his drug addiction as an example of how easy it is to fall back into something that you thought you were free of. Near the beginning of the season, you see a flashback of the plane in the air, just before they crashed. Charlie was heading to the restroom because he wanted a heroin fix. He didn’t care what was going on, he had 100% tunnel vision. There was massive turbulence, and that didn’t stop him a bit. Yet another excellent example of how we can compare his life to ours. He had one objective, and that was to get that fix. He past right through some people, ignored all the warning signs about the turbulence, and went for that restroom for his fix. So how can we relate? Because situations in our lives are the same way. We, as humans, see things as how we want them, not necessarily the best outcome. It’s hard for us to respect decisions that some people make, but we have to. We get blinded by that “fix” we need, that one thing that we have our mind set on. Everything else is irrelevant, until later, when we realize our mistake.

Aside from the fix on the plane, the same thing happened in his past. Also early in Season One, we see Charlie steal something of great value from a girl’s father, simply so he could give it to his dealer just to get a fix. This wasn’t any ordinary girl either; it was someone that he truly cared about.

And then of course his rocker personality comes out, and from his past you can gather that he was a bit cocky, but definitely had the right to be. In the same episode mentioned above, about the theft, he’s talking to this girl that invited him back to his apartment for tea, and his arrogant/funny response is classic. It was “Lucy, if you’re going to invite me back to your house for sex, don’t say tea, say sex!” Perfect example of a stereotypical cocky kid. Seedy pasts don’t make us bad people, it helps us learn. It helps us prepare for the future, and prepare for the unexpected in life.

Charlie feels the need to take care of people because of the guilt from his past. We definitely see that with his relationship with Claire, and his desire to give her exactly what she needs. I think Charlie is similar to Jack in that one aspect. He feels like he can fix certain things. Charlie thought he could deliver Claire’s baby by himself, and he was prepared for it when a false labor arose in one episode. That to me is very courageous, and demonstrates just how eager he is to take care of the people that he really cares about.