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How does Tintin make friends so easily?

rainise
Member
#1 · Posted: 15 Nov 2011 09:16
I really admire Tintin very much; I was just wondering, how does he make friends so easily?
Does he have many friends?
jock123
Moderator
#2 · Posted: 15 Nov 2011 10:09
That’s a very good point - he does, doesn’t he?

I think, generally, it’s because of certain aspects of his character, which are helpful in making friends.

For example, he’s curious without being nosy. He’s interested in what people do, and likes to find out about them.

He is very fair and honest, so that people can trust him, and he likes to make sure that people are treated fairly, and that if there is something wrong he will try to put it right.

No matter what goes wrong, or how much trouble he gets into, he remains cheerful, and tries to make sure that his friends are happy too.

Yes, he has quite a few friends: we see him meet new people and make friends with them in many of the books. However, it’s not the quantity of friends that really matters, it’s the quality of the friendship.

We see a small group of people over and over again – the Captain, Calculus, the Detectives – who are obviously close friends.

We also see that he remains friends even with people who can be irritating, such as Castafiore, Jolyon Wagg and Abdullah: that’s very important too, as everyone can find other people, even people close to them irritating at times. It’s because Tintin can stay friends with people like that, that we know he must be good at making friends.

Update: After having written the above I found a link to just this very subject of what is important in making friends!
mct16
Member
#3 · Posted: 15 Nov 2011 12:06
He's also very tolerant of people, even those with rather eccentric or even bloodthirsty ways.

Take Alcazar, for example. It is somewhat amazing the way Tintin stays friendly with a tin-pot dictator with a habit of condemning his enemies to death, including Tintin himself.
Ladybird
Member
#4 · Posted: 17 Nov 2011 04:34
I agree with mct16 I think that one of the reasons Tintin has so many friends is that he tolerates people who most of us might find difficult to say the least.

For instance I'm sure that Abdullah has scared away any number of people who might have liked the Emir. I'm sure despite Bianca's busy social life she doesn't know many people willing to deal with her for more than a short space of time (her only real friend might just be Irma). I'd also imagine that Alcazar has managed to execute or alienate anyone who might have liked him. Maybe his wife is ok with his going berserk whenever he loses at chess.
mct16
Member
#5 · Posted: 17 Nov 2011 13:09
Ladybird:
I'm sure despite Bianca's busy social life she doesn't know many people willing to deal with her for more than a short space of time

Not necessarily, after all she is present on board the millionaire yacht in "Red Sea Sharks" and I believe that it must have been at the very least a week-long cruise. Sponsz seems to like her in "Calculus Affair" and she seems to get on well with the reporters interviewing her in "Emerald".

Ladybird:
Maybe his wife is ok with his going berserk whenever he loses at chess.

Alcazar would be lucky to survive five minutes if he played that kind of joke on Peggy! She's not the sort to have a sense of humour. If he fired blanks at her after losing a game, she'd quite likely use live ammo on him!
Ladybird
Member
#6 · Posted: 18 Nov 2011 02:56
You've got a point, but I'd imagine that they are fair weather friends to say the least (Sponz was perfectly happy to see her sentenced to life imprisonment). You're right about the cruise but the journalists have to be nice to her, their job is to get her to be communicative. Maybe my point is that Bianca doesn't have many real friends

mct16:
Alcazar would be lucky to survive five minutes if he played that kind of joke on Peggy! She's not the sort to have a sense of humour. If he fired blanks at her after losing a game, she'd quite likely use live ammo on him!

Ha ha, I suppose you're right. I just wondered if the General's "eccentricities" hadn't contributed to his spouse's exceedingly short temper.

"And that's not even counting the time he threw the knife at me!"
"But palomita mia, I've done that a hundred times on stage I wasn't going to hit you!"
Star Child
Member
#7 · Posted: 4 Mar 2012 11:50
I think it's his charm...Pity, the only 2 girls he knows are Martine and Bianca!

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