With Halloween approaching, I thought of a seasonal topic: literary Halloween costumes.
This came to mind because I was recently reading Spilling Clarence by Anne Ursu; one of the characters, a precocious 9-year-old girl, insists on being Gandhi for Halloween. Her father has to talk her into wearing an extra layer to keep her warm in a Minnesota October, and talk her out of the necessity of having hand-loomed fabric. Her costume is described as follows:
“Sophie wears a tan leotard and tights (Bennie’s victory) under a white cloth wrapped around her like a toga. Her thin blond hair is plastered against her head, and she wears little round glasses from The Thrift Shop. Gramma helped her make a little mustache this morning.”
She is contrasted with other kids who are, among others, Uberman, Piranhasaurus, and Dementia; and Nilknarf and Zalfutz from the musical Alienz. In real life, too, a vast preponderance of costumes on the market are licensed characters – I just spent some scary time wandering through Halloween Adventure stores looking for costumes that I could deconstruct for my kids.
Are there any characters that would make good Halloween costume subjects? And are there any other good literary descriptions of costumes?
BTW, T is going to be Herakles – we bought a lion costume on eBay that he can wrap around as a cloak. A is going for the even more obscure: he will be Argos, the 100-eyed guard of Io. It turns out that the eyeballs we bought don’t stick with hot glue, so guess who is sewing 98 eyeballs onto a hat and sweatpants for him?
7 comments:
Pony went as Betsy from the Betsy/Tacy books when she was in kindergarten. This year, she and Bunny are talking big game about going as Nac Mac Feegles from Terry Pratchett's books.
Not that anyone will EVER get that reference!
The first Halloween scene that comes to mind for me is in To Kill A Mockingbird. Remember, Scout was a ham in some big paper mache/wire thing. And then she and Jem are chased on the way home from the pageant at school and she falls and Jem gets hurt and Boo carries him home. I don't think either of my kids would have wanted to be a ham.
In our house, with J's red/orange hair, I was able to pull off a Ron Weasley costume for three years. The neighbors were always asking if he was Harry, but we knew, he was Ron and got a huge kick out of it.
Was Pony a young Betsy? Loved those books--took my daughter S. down to Mankato several years ago for an actual convention of the BT Society. Really fun to go see all the landmarks if you've never been down there.
JNJ--good luck with those eyeballs!
Oh, I love the idea of a group going as Nac Mac Feegles! Crivens!
oh, I am loathe to participate in this conversation! You'll kick me off the blog! Not only do I never sew 98 eyeballs on a costume, my kids are going as mainstream characters this year. In the past, we've seen hippies, babies, firefighters and many Harry Potter references. This year, I believe we'll have Morticia Adams and a Ninja.... (yes, my son at the Quaker school is going as a Ninja, as are most of his friends. go figure.) At least Morticia is retro....
I think Morticia is a unique choice--it's not like the Addams Family is on TV anymore. (Or is it? I don't really know.)
Crivens! We are a week from Halloween, and the current idea is to be Death as a short order cook (complete with kitten) and/or as Hogfather. Pratchett rules over here.
It's pretty hard to come up with a non-licensed character or unusual idea for Halloween. In addition, most kids don't want to go for something that might get them teased. My neighbor told me about her son wanting to be a dust bunny (which I thought was hilarious), but then decided to go a safer route as a vampire.
New development! Son is no longer going to be a ninja - he decided he can't wear it to school. So, he's going to be Manfred Bloor from Charlie Bone! Not quite as literary as some, but hey. And, at least there aren't pre-made costumes for Bloor's Academy students....so we're using things from the dress up box.
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