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| Photo by Ben Sweet on Unsplash |
Personality tests are all the rage in social
media land, but few tests can be as accurate, revealing, and insightful as the
Enneagram. An ancient concept that finds modern uses among psychologists, educators,
and hiring managers, the Enneagram is a circle separated into nine interconnected
numbers, with each number representing personality traits, inner drives, and
strengths and weaknesses.
I thought it would be fun to see where
the characters in my novel, The Power Club and its forthcoming sequel, The Secret Club (due to be published on Feb. 20) land on this circle, and below is
what I came up with.
First, a couple
of caveats need mentioning.
Not every trait in a personality type
will apply to everyone who fits that type. If you are a Seven (“The Enthusiast”),
for example, you might find some traits that resemble you and others that don’t.
Also, it can be difficult to pin one’s
own number down. I’ve taken several Enneagram tests in the last few months, and
depending on their results and on the opinions of people who know me, I’m a One
(“The Reformer,” also known as “The Perfectionist”), a Four (“The Individualist”),
A Five (“The Investigator”) or a Nine (“The Peacemaker”).
However, in studying the Enneagram, I
think I have come to understand myself a little better.
But in terms of revealing where your characters
might land on the circle, the Ennegram can be both insightful and surprising, as
my results on three of the Power Club characters show.
More information on the Enneagram can
be found at the Enneagram Institute, from when come the quotes below. Two helpful books are
also listed in the bibliography at the end of this post.
Herewith is
how three of the main PC kids stack up:
Damon = Six (The
Loyalist)
According to the Enneagram Institute,
Sixes are “reliable, hard-working, responsible, and trusting.” They “foresee
problems and foster cooperation.” We see this in the first book, as Damon is
the one who rallies The Power Club into becoming heroes. They join in when he
fights back against the mob that invades the mall, and they (or most of them) later
help him foil a robbery. Of all the PC members, Damon is the most committed to becoming a
hero and doing something positive with the powers they possess.
But Sixes also have a dark side (in
Damon’s case, this is both literal and figurative). They can become “defensive,
evasive, and anxious,” and also “reactive, defiant, and rebellious.” We see
these traits play out when the District opposes Damon’s plans to turn the PC
into heroes. Damon becomes convinced, rightly or wrongly, that the unseen
leaders of the District are out to get him, lying about the limits of his darkness
power and turning other kids against him.
Sixes “want to have security, to feel
supported by others,” and this is why the Power Club is so important to Damon.
He doesn’t want to become a solo hero, acting on his own. He wants to be part
of a team, working with other powered kids to make a difference. When things
don’t work out the way he plans, he can become “competitive and arrogant” (as
we’ll see in the second book), but, at his best, Damon is “internally stable
and self-reliant, courageously championing [himself] and others”—especially
when their survival is at stake.
Denise = Five
(The Investigator)
As a precognitive, Denise embodies a
Five’s traits of being “visionary . . . ahead of [her] time, and able to see
the world in an entirely new way.” But her “Fiveness” goes beyond the nature of
her power. She is “able to concentrate and focus on developing complex ideas
and independent skills.” In the False Alarm prequel, we saw that young
Denise loved science and kept an ant farm. Her interest in science ties in with
her key motivation of wanting to possess knowledge and understand the physical
environment.
But the downside of her power and
personality is that she can become “detached . . . high-strung and intense.”
Her desire to control her world leads her to make decisions she later regrets.
(We will see one such decision at the end The Power Club and some
consequences of it in The Secret Club.)
Typical of Fives, Denise is
afraid of being useless; she knows her power isn’t very useful in battle,
and, thus, she struggles with feeling insecure and isolated. At her best, she
is “self-confident and decisive” and even the other PC members know when to
listen to her.
Kyle = Three (The
Achiever)
Kyle, who becomes Damon’s best friend,
exudes the traits of a Three: “self-assured, attractive, and charming” as well
as “ambitious, competent, and energetic.” As the oldest member of PC, Kyle is
probably the best qualified to be its leader, but he’s not threatened when
Damon is chosen instead. Rather, Kyle remains “diplomatic and poised,” a role
model “who inspires others.”
Still, like other Threes, Kyle is
status-conscious, and in his world, status often means doing the things other
15-year-old boys do: hunt, play football, and drive sports cars. In fact, Kyle
is obsessed with a Mustang he helps his father rebuild, even though his own
natural teleportation power can take him anywhere he wants to go. In his heart,
Kyle wants both to fit in and “to be admired, and to impress others.” To him,
this means acquiring the status symbols of achievement, such as the driver’s
license he is looking forward to on his 16th birthday.
At his best, Kyle becomes “cooperative
and committed to others,” assisting Damon in foiling the robbery at great
personal cost.
So, what do we
learn from all this?
What’s most interesting to me is that
the types align not only with each character’s personality but also with his or
her powers. A security-conscious Damon, for example, would naturally see his
darkspace as an environment in which to feel safe. Kyle, on the other hand,
has an inverse relationship between his power and his personality. As a teleporter,
he is conceivably one of the most powerful kids in the district, but all he
wants to do is fit in.
In the next post, I’ll reveal the numbers
of the other PC kids.
Meanwhile, you can use the Enneagram to see what you can learn about your own characters.
Bibliography
The Enneagram Institute. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/
Stabile, Suzanne. (2018). The Path Between Us: An Enneagram Journey to Healthy Relationships. InterVarsity Press.
Palmer, Helen. (2010). The Enneagram in Love and Work: Understanding Your Intimate & Business Relationships. HarperOne.
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