What is the reason some novels have the lead character nameless or anonymous?

Answer 1

In some cases, such as Fairy Tales- often those ending tragically ( the Little Match Girl) and the boy who cried wolf- for example the Lead character is often anonymous, little dialogue ensues, and the story is essentially a problem-novel in condensed form. it is difficult to get emotionally involved with anonymous characters, a somewhat similar example- and a rarity- bad guy not only ( wins) but gets away with his horrible deeds may be found in the Pied Piper of Hamelin ( Imagine a modern-day example, of say a Carnival worker hijacking a school bus full of kids and taking them to some remote loco then flashing on the screen ( The end)- Yucch! At times extreme stereotyping- as in the good-guy creatures of Wizard of Oz- this tactic is used- also the Mad hatter of Alice in Wonderland. One non-kiddy application was the medieval street- drama Jedermann- (Everyman or each man) which again, had moralistic angles like the Pilgrim"s Progress which has nothing to do with the l620 Mayflower voyagers! I don"t like this tactic. One rare- and I never could figure it out - why Wells did this- application was the Time machine, the lead character is referred to solely as the Time Traveller- it is clear he is human and not a supernatural being- which might justify this ( like the Ghost Rider, and even he had the nickname- assigned by the cowboys in the bunk-house of Lefty.N"uff said.