By Crystal and Whitney
Introverts! We’re everywhere. We’re at cinemas, watching The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by ourselves. We’re in restaurants, reading books at tables for one. We’re definitely at A-Camp, in full force. That’s why we’re hosting not one but two Introvert Meet Ups, because there’s nothing introverts love more than a little forced socialising. Just kidding, attendance is optional. We held one of these at the last A-Camp and all us quiet queers had a nice chilled out time.
Compiling a list of ten introverts wasn’t as easy as you might think because how do you know if someone identifies as an introvert? Maybe they’re just really shy, okay! You can never really know, not unless they’ve spoken about it and some of these people haven’t because they do not exist. We’ve taken our best guess, though, ‘cause if we didn’t then there’d be no article to publish.
10. Allison Reynolds
Allison Reynolds from The Breakfast Club sat alone in detention eating cereal sugar sandwiches and making dandruff doodles and just generally being a weirdo outcast and she really owned it, too. Then she got a make-over and some male attention and, ugh.
9. Flannery O’Connor
via persephonewrites.wordpress.com
The prolific novelist Flannery O’Connor preferred birds to people. Her book of essays, Mystery and Manners, begins with the essay “The King of Birds,” that chronicles her life of raising and collecting peacocks, a hobby that started first with chickens: “What had only been a mild interest became a passion, a quest.” According to Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor by Brad Gooch, she was “pegged as quiet … self-reliant but remote” and in her childhood, she spent “most of her free time making drawings, usually of birds.” Even if O’Connor preferred to keep to herself and her birds, her novels and short stories contain a sharp awareness of human nature, precise and alert.
8. Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn played the role of the extrovert in movies like Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but the truth is that she was “a shy, delicate and introverted person,” according to her biography Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years by Tony Nourmand. The loud, talkative roles she is most well known for did not necessarily come easy to her — “I’m an introvert,” she once said, “Playing the extroverted girl was the hardest thing I ever did.” Hepburn enjoyed being by herself to recharge, and her extroverted portrayal of Breakfast at Tiffany’s Holly Golightly earned her a Oscar nomination.
7. Mary Anne Spier
Mary Anne is the Baby-sitter’s Club secretary, a classic occupation of introverted youth. Things Mary Anne does not enjoy include: being centre of attention, conflict, large crowds and the colour pink. Mary Anne was the first baby-sitter to get a boyfriend, which I feel is a common thing with introverts? All the introverts at my school were the first to get boyfriends.
It could be argued that Claudia is also an introvert because she spends so much time alone doing art and is really only friends with Stacey. However, she also has a phone in her bedroom and I don’t know any introverts who like answering the phone. The BSC series was responsible for all my classmates wanting their own phone line but even back that idea horrified me.
6. Emily Dickinson
When you think of Emily Dickinson, you might think of a poet alone at her table, at work. What you might not realize was that Dickinson was often composing poems while in the kitchen, elbow-high in bread flour. It’s a little-known fact that Dickinson, who kept to herself a great deal, was an accomplished baker and loved to send homemade “cakes and candies” to friends and family. The Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA has records of Dickinson’s poems being scribbled out hastily on the wrappers of baking chocolate and on the back of coconut cake recipes — while she cooked, her mind was always moving to the next line of her poems.
5. Daria Morgendorffer
All of my favorite moments from Daria are related to Daria’s obvious resentment for having to leave the house and/or attend social events and/or have empty conversation. Hero.
4. Lisbeth Salander
Did you know that someone on the internet has conducted in-depth analysis on the Myers-Briggs personality types of popular fictional characters? It’s called MBTI In Fiction, aka the most amazing tumblr you’ll discover today. Here’s an accurate dissection of super intense introvert Lisbeth Salander from the Millenium trilogy:
“It is pretty clear that Lisbeth is an introvert. Analyzing, and planning are what occupy her mind most often. She justifies her actions with factual reasoning. When she does speak, it is well thought out and exactly what she means… She has a hard time relating to people, interacting in social situations, and behaving appropriately. Despite her inability to connect to most people, the few people she does care about, she tries to do good by them.”
3. Joni Mitchell
Photo by Jack Robinson via fanpop.com
Joni Mitchell describes the process of writing songs using “introvert” as a verb — “When I write a song I have to introvert and introvert because I like to scrape a bit of how I’m feeling around me and all that,” she said, according to the biography, Joni Mitchell by Mark Bego. Mitchell has said that the process of writing songs involves “exploring the inner landscape thoroughly,” and she describes this as being an introverted process that she often returns to — a process of looking inward. Joni Mitchell’s songs are often confessional and intimate, from “All I Want” (“I am on a lonely road and I am traveling / Traveling, traveling, traveling / Looking for something, what can it be”) to “River” (“I’m gonna make a lot of money / And quit this crazy scene / I wish I had a river I could skate away on”).
2. Katniss Everdeen
I feel like Katniss‘ introversion was far more obvious in the Hunger Games novels rather than the movie; the internal monologue showed just much Katniss lives in her head and doesn’t seem to have a need to connect in the same ways that Gale and Peeta do. Not that there weren’t big flashing indicators of introversion in movie- she looked a gazillion times more uncomfortable during her TV interview than in any scene where someone was trying to kill her.
1. Waldo
Waldo (aka Wally) is arguably the world’s most dedicated introvert. He’s been roaming the world alone since 1986 and the dude hides from EVERYONE.
So those are some of our favorite introverts. Who are yours?
You killed me at Waldo.
Crystal is my favorite introvert. Also though, Daria forever.
As someone that has spent all day working-from-bed in order to avoid seeing people, and just cancelled weekend plans in order to prolong this state, please let me express my appreciation for this post.
Also, that MBTI tumblr is amazing and I very much look forward to spending many hours interacting with that instead of humans.
The thing about introverts dating earliest is interesting to me–do y’all commenters see this? My gf is very introverted and she had a boyfriend in the 8th grade, and dated steadily through high school and college. It always struck me as pretty early to date.
Thoughts?
I think it largely depends on the person and the level of introversion, etc. I never dated (I don’t believe in the concept of it) and didn’t want anything to do with people for the most part. I think largely because introversion is somewhat of a self-contained world, that is to say, rarely do other people excite me. My inner world is what is fascinating to me and constantly keeps me entertained. When people come along, they don’t really bring that much to the table aka my inner world, where I want to stop what I am doing and focus on them. Usually it is a rare occurrence and oftentimes I find that it takes another introvert to understand that and make me want to get out of my inner world and get to know them. That said… dating never appealed to me, if anything it always sounded like torture, with all the societal expectations and how most people are programmed (So, what do you do for a living? What do you do for fun? What type of guy/girl are you into? – Boringggggg! *yawns* Some one wake me when they have something interesting to say (throw a cog in the wheel for heaven’s sake!) that isn’t so cliche or predictable, that captures my mind and stimulates it, then you have my interest and attention. Anyways, that is my perspective. :)
Kate Beckett on Castle.
Emily Thorne on Revenge.
Juliet on Lost.
These three all are very good at holding grudges and spending hours upon hours in their heads calculating how to get what they want.
Oz on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Adorable partners to Willow the nerdy extroverted witch. Both had quiet strength, a big secret talent of introverts everywhere. Introvert fist bump!
Fellow introvert and INTJ chiming in. As for Lisbeth Salandar’s character, I see and have seen discussions where she’s either said to be INTJ or ISTP or a culmination of both here and there (book versus movie, etc). I think she’s more ISTP in the American version of the movie and INTJ in the Swedish version. Salander is a character I can strongly relate to, especially in the Swedish versions of the movie. Her character and how it was portrayed in the American version annoyed me greatly.
As for who are my favorite introverts? Besides Salandar, Enid Colesaw from Ghost World is a favorite of mine and a character I strongly relate to as well as Kat Stratford from 10 Things I Hate About You.
This was great, kind of. The only one that bothered me was Lisbeth. It’s suggested in the book that she may have autism/Aspergers, which may seem on some level like introversion. My mother, when I was initially diagnosed with Aspergers, for a while tried to insist that I was merely introverted. There have in fact been a bunch of online articles debating about Lisbeth in relation to autism, and I am fairly sure that Larsson wrote her with ASD in mind, but as he is dead now he can’t comment officially one way or another on the issue. I have a lot of feelings about Lisbeth is what I’m trying to say.
Side note: My mum called me Daria when I was a kid and my sister told me that I was a lot like Allison before I watched TBC. When I told a friend of mine that she laughed so hard she nearly lost a tooth and then agreed.
I mean, yeah she’s autistic, but that doesn’t mean she’s not an introvert. Sure it’s a problem to say things like “she’s not autistic, she’s just an introvert!” or “all autistics are introverts,” but in my reading at least, she’s both.
Totally watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower at a cinema, by myself: love this. (Also: hello everyone!!!)
I love going to the cinema alone! No fighting over what to see, no armrest hogging/drink “borrowing”, and then you can dissect the movie to your hearts content. Alone, in the car, on the way home.
Hello! *turns around and pretends that wasn’t me*
I’m working from home to avoid all unnecessary human contact today, so this really speaks to me right now. Also, every entry on that tumblr ends with the Hogwarts house for each character, which is way more entertaining than it should be.
I made Ally Sheedy a latte once and managed not to lose my mind or embarrass myself.
Loving this, and I foresee myself spending way too much time on that tumblr today.
Also one can arguably shoehorn in a number of videogame characters, but I’d like to nominate Samus Aran. I spent lots of time in her head exploring alien worlds when I was younger. (Ignore Other M, though perhaps that only illustrates how awkwardly she interacts with other people.)
My two favorite introverts in any film are the twin sisters in Mike Leigh’s “Life is Sweet.” One, Nicola, has bulimia and is totally depressed (played by the great Jane Harrocks) and the other, Nik, is a butch/possibly transmasculine/possible trans self-contained uber introvert who’s a plumber’s assistant. I’m noticing the film’s on YouTube which is great because it sadly isn’t on DVD. It also has a number of future Harry Potter performers in the cast.
Also can’t believe this list left out Dawn Wiener from “Welcome to the Dollhouse” as played by the amazing Heather Matarazzo. What, she can’t even get respect on a list of introverts???
Haha, Waldo.
What about George Michael Bluth?
I definitely developed a habit of hiding candy in my room because of Claudia. Unfortunately, I generally forgot about it.
Vada Sultenfuss from My Girl, totally.
I love all of this, totally went to the cinema to see Perks of Being a Wallflower by myself, and The Hunger Games actually. Ally Sheedy/Allison Reynolds ftw.
Perks of Being a Wallflower is such a well-written introvert story.
Fully expected to see Kristen Stewart on this list. Like, as far as I can tell, she should be the picture next to the “introvert” entry in the dictionary.
Also, I love the concept of that Tumblr and they even have an entry for Lucille Bluth, which is amazing, but damn, there are only three examples of my type (ENFP) on there, and now I’m having a hard time even thinking of characters that COULD be ENFPs. This is sad…
And I hope that introverts don’t have first dibs when it comes to being cynical or misanthropic. As an extrovert, I am still those things. I am just way more loud and vocal about it, which gets me into even more trouble.
Loved this. I’d add Kurt Cobain. I’m definitely an introvert, but the way I describe it is that I have an inner extrovert trying to get out. lol
So much love for this. It’s especially relevant for me because I’ve been reading Susan Cain’s book on introverts, “Quiet,” and a lot of it resonates deeply with my experiences.
In terms of ‘famous’ introverts, Nick Carraway in “The Great Gatsby” – the movie version, though, more than the book – reeaallly struck me as an introvert! (It’s been a while since I read the book but I’ve heard that he comes across as less introverted in it.)
Finally someone got it right. I do agree with you that Nick is one of the famous introverts out there in literary history. Especially in 2013 version of the great gatsby by Tobey Maguire himself. I love him! He’s quite adorable and had a sharp wit. ;)
this is awesome! although I must admit, the first thing that sprang to mind when I read “introvert” was Stephen from The Well of Loneliness, and then I realized you didn’t mean THAT kind of introvert :)
Fiona Apple.
I’m so happy for this list.
Ah, my dear ones.
Garbo.
That is all.
Waldo is an introvert? Strange, he seems to be be out among people literally all the time.
Ahhhh, this is the fine art of “blending in.” Some introverts use this technique to fit in, so that they can avoid being in the spotlight or picked on so easily for being a little different socially. :p
Lisbeth Salander is my Favorite. I went and Watched all Three movies,because i wanted to know as much about her as i could. I never really watch TV so i cant say much about the others.
Virginia Woolf. Introverts create the most beautiful art.
Thank you for providing fora of support for introverts on the mountain. As a deeply introverted person unused to lively social interactions, A-Camp was delicious but exhausting. I loved the energy of the community, but mourned my inability to engage others without constantly being drained. The double helping of solidarity for the introverts who dared the ultimate queermo party touched me deeply.
Some of my favorite introverts:
Bella Swan, Twilight.
Anne Elliot, Persuasion.
William Thacker, Notting Hill.
Katsa from Graceling, and her author Kristin Cashore. Plus pretty much every writer whose books I enjoy. (Should that have been who’s? I felt like typing whose: it’s such a pretty word, though I worry about my grammar a bit much.) There are brilliant extroverted writers, but their work doesn’t resonate as deeply with me.
I am so glad that this list exists. I can’t think of any to add. I can relate to this hugely. Antiant has spoken my truth also.
Casually four years late to this, but… Andrea Gibson!
I appreciate 10 favorite introductions of the ball. I like the Hunger Games novels, hope you have a better share
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