Literary Astrology: Scorpio

Scorpios—not to be confused with Serpico, who, for the record, is an Aries—are magnetic, but be careful not to get too close, because they’ll sting. Born between October 23 and November 22, Scorpios are brave, ambitious, super-focused, loyal, and mysterious. They’re also jealous, secretive, resentful, and manipulative. In other words, they’re the characters you hate to love or love to hate, which is why we’d peg these four literary personages as Scorpios.
Becky Sharp (Vanity Fair, by William Thackeray)
We ain’t saying she a gold digger…except we are, because Thackeray’s antiheroine, Becky Sharp, is one heck of a social climber. Super-focused and ambitious, no doubt, but loyal? Only on the outside, when seducing her marks. So, manipulative? Yes. Becky would throw just about anyone under the bus for a string of pearls. Duplicity is her middle name. Yet somehow, generations of readers find her raw social and financial aspiration alluring.
Jo March (Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Jo says she was born in November (just like Louisa May Alcott). As a young girl, she’s incensed at being relegated to the domestic sphere rather than being allowed to fight bravely in the war alongside her father. Ambitious, passionate, and quick-tempered, in her later move to New York and her resolute pursuit of a writing career, she’s also brave for a woman of the era. Childhood friend Laurie, for one, finds her mysterious—and, disappointingly, a tad slippery. Unfortunately, in marriage, Jo’s Scorpio ways are tamed by old German whats-his-name, who is so clearly an Air sign. We will never forgive her for not ending up with Laurie, Amy be damned.
Gale Hawthorne (The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins)
Peeta is the tender, loving type, so why Team Gale? Because girls love a brooding, brave, and loyal love interest. Katniss’s oldest friend and “hunting partner” would lay down in traffic stage an insurrection for her, which makes it hard not to be just a tad resentful and jealous as she moons, whether for propaganda purposes or not, over Peeta. Gale becomes single-minded in his desire to bring down President Snow and the Capitol at all costs, which ends up opening a chasm between the two lovebirds—whether they’ll be able to cross it is decided in Mockingjay, no spoilers here for those who are waiting for the movie.
Dr. Annick Swenson (State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett)
Dr. Annick Swenson, described by one character as “a force of nature,” is a mythic, hard-ass 73-year-old endocrinologist living in the Amazonian rainforest. Brave, dedicated, mysterious? Check. Marina, the novel’s protagonist, who goes looking for Swenson, believes the doctor’s research is for a miracle fertility drug, but her mentor has been keeping some secrets. Annick comes off a bit prickly, but in her uncompromising dedication to science, she reserves her most bitter resentment for the meddling drug company and scientific codes that both enable and limit her.
Tune in next month, when we bring the literary zodiac full circle with Sagittarius!