JP: Comic Relief

Ian Malcolm and Lex Murphy from Crichton's Jurassic Park.

As the title suggests, these two are the comic relief in the novel. (Maybe Donald Gennaro some too, but mostly these two.) I really wanted to juxtapose them - tall, dark, older Malcolm and the young, blonde, bratty Lex.

I think I appreciate their characters more the more times I read the novel. Especially Lex - I used to think she was useless until I realized that her job is comic relief. So even though she does nothing in the actual story, she relieves the tension for the reader. Meanwhile, Malcolm's job is to explain everything about gloom, doom, destruction and chaos, and also to be funny, which is an interesting combination.

Interestingly enough, Malcolm and Lex never interact in the novel, even though they do share a couple of scenes. So they end up just splitting the comic relief job.

*I like how Lex came out, but Malcolm's a little odd-looking. Mainly his right ankle, but hey - that's the one he fractured horribly, so I guess it's okay if it doesn't look perfect.