It has been pointed out to me that, in general, the characters in my stories have no names. I always figured that this was because I'm lousy at finding good names for my characters, and since they're mostly archetypes anyway, they don't need names.
Then I picked up a copy of Bruno Bettlehein's book The Uses of Enchantment, which analyzes fairy tales, and their roles in children's lives.
He says (on page 40 in the 1976 hardback copy by Knopf)
Quote:
The fairy tale, by contrast (with myths), makes clear that ittells about everyman, people very much like us... If names appear, it is quite clear that these are not proper names but general or descriptive ones....Even when the hero is given a name, as in the Jack stories, or in "Hansel and Gretel," the use of very common names makes themgeneric terms, standing for any boy or girl.
This is further stressed by the fact that in fairy tales nobody else has a name; the parents of the main figures in fairy tales remain nameless.... Fairies and witches, giants and godmothers remain equally unnamed, thus facilitating projections and identifications.
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So having unnamed characters is not only a standard fairy tale trope, but it has valuable psychological effects.
Or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
