Besides the more obvious ones, what historical characters have you seen making a cameo in the Alvin Maker series? Please, none of the major ones (Ta-Kumsaw, Harrison, so on). Let's point out the ones that would usually be missed, because they are either rather minor or have their real names mentioned only once and only quietly.
SPOILERS: The ones I've spotted include: ~the poet William Blake (Taleswapper) ~Captain Robert Fitzroy, who captained the HMSS Beagle while Darwin was aboard (and took Calvin to England)
Erm . . . actually, that's all I can think of off the top of my head.
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
What's obvious to some isn't always obvious to others.
The would-be rebel slaves in Heartfire were real figures.
Audubon, Fink, Bowie, Audubon, La Fayette, Balzac all come to mind, which not EVERYONE has heard of ...
Posted by Black Mage (Member # 5800) on :
Fink was real? I've spent about two days of my vacation combing the books and the encyclopedia looking up La Fayette and Tecumseh and so on, but I couldn't find Fink, though I tried.
Who was he?
Posted by BandoCommando (Member # 7746) on :
An infamous river rat. Go fig. :-)
Posted by BandoCommando (Member # 7746) on :
Though...Balzac...I'm gonna have to research what he did in the "real" history.
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
hint: He was a writer
Posted by Black Mage (Member # 5800) on :
He wrote somewhere around a thousand books, didn't he? Or was that short stories? I know he never finished the great work of literature he was intending to do . . .
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
Isn't there some sort of ride at Walt Disney World named after Mike Fink? Mike Fink's keelboats or something? Actually I think that ride's been replaced now ... but I figured that was the same guy.
Posted by CRash (Member # 7754) on :
Out of the ones OSC mentioned, I have to say that Fink was a surprise to me...but he is one of my favorite characters. I'll have to Google him.
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
Tell me if I've read it wrong ... I thought Mike Fink was a real guy, but also based on another real guy, Orrin Porter Rockwell. Anyone know?
Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
Denmark (who was a real black rebelion organizer)
And of course Abe Lincon.
Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
Well, Peggy was based upon Ms. Piggy from the Muppets.
Arthur Stuart was fashioned after Simba from the Lion King, whom, in turn, was fashioned after Hamlet.
Measure is obviously Nolan Ryan.
Calvin is Marilyn Monroe in drag. Don't deny it, either.
Verily Cooper is Jack the Ripper. Seriously, what do you think the next book will be about? Verily going nuts and killing all the sinning women. Seriouly.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Originally posted by JennaDean: Tell me if I've read it wrong ... I thought Mike Fink was a real guy, but also based on another real guy, Orrin Porter Rockwell. Anyone know?
Besides the fact that both of them were big tough guys that acted as bodyguards, I'm not seeing much of of a similarity between Porter Rockwell and Mike Fink.
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
Yeah, well, since that's really all I know about Porter Rockwell, that's why I saw the connection.
(Assuming that Alvin Maker is loosely based on Joseph Smith, of course.)
Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
T_Smith, do us all a favor and shut the @!?# up!! No one wnats to here your crackpot mentally challenged views, alright?
Posted by Black Mage (Member # 5800) on :
Advent, leave off.
Well, how does a river rat gain so much fame, anyways?
Posted by Occasional (Member # 5860) on :
I do. Every thread needs an innocent trickster like T-Smith, loosley based off of Mr.T complete with hair.
Posted by Advent 115 (Member # 8914) on :
Sorry I was a little mental yesterday, to much caffine can accually do that to a person.
But please T_Smith never, ever make fun of Measure. I mean come on, how can you make fun of Alvins cool older brother who can actually do some Making?
[ January 15, 2006, 02:25 AM: Message edited by: Advent 115 ]
Posted by RunningBear (Member # 8477) on :
Harrison was real, and I particularly enjoyed connecting Harrison's death a month into office to Calvin's antics (in the book world). In "real life" Harrison died of pneumonia that he got during his inaugural speech which was something like an hour and fifty minutes long.
Posted by Black Mage (Member # 5800) on :
I was amazed to find out Tenskwa-Tawa and Ta-Kumsaw were real (go to Wikipedia and look up Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa). I knew there was a real Tippecanoe battle, I just never made the logical connection those two were real also. I do wonder, however, considering the historical facts mentioned about the two of them, how much of the story in Red Prophet is of Card's own making and how much is based off alternate sources regarding these two figures.
Oh, and check it out: Lalawethika was his original name, rather than Lolla-Wossiky.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
No bump intended, but i can't believe nobody mentioned Emerson. I'm rereading Heartfire and R.W. Emerson is mentioned repeatedly, with at least 3 speaking lines that i've gotten to so far.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Nobody seems to have mentioned Nappy yet, but maybe he's a little too obvious. The governor of Canada, who has the amulet that enables him to resist Nappy's knack, is a real character, though I can't for the life of me remember his name. King Arthur Stuart, if not exactly real, is descended from the real kings of England, and seems to have gotten their worst and most obnoxious traits. (Much as I admire the Bonnie Prince, it has to be admitted that bone-headed stupidity and arrogance ran in his family.)
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
What about the artist? Um ... Jean-Jacques Audubon. The one that Arthur Stuart made the birds stand still for, so he could paint them. That was a real person (right?).
[ February 07, 2006, 01:47 PM: Message edited by: JennaDean ]
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
No one's mentioned Papa Moose and Mama Squirrel yet. Hmff. (Bless me, what DO they teach them in these schools these days...)
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
huh? Papa Moose and Mama Squirrel are real? i mean, outside of hatrack of course.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Lafayette! That was it. Though I suppose he might be more well-known in America than in Europe, so maybe people were ignoring him as obvious.
Posted by cheiros do ender (Member # 8849) on :
Is Verily based on Sydney Rigdon? I just took the D&C back to the library, but plan to get my own copy from the ward up the road on Sunday. I was only up to Section 51 and have already forgotten who Sidney was, but he seems to have the most in common with Verily that I can see.
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