Personality
Having been physically abused by his biological father and some of his mother's boyfriends, Ryan finds it extremely hard to get close to anyone. Born and raised in a working class family, Ryan knows the lifestyle and attitudes of people from his neighborhood of Chino, California and the dangers that occur if outsiders are influenced by its environment. He is tough, cynical and quick-tempered, yet compassionate and empathetic toward people in trouble and those less fortunate than himself. He at times appears burdened by an almost-compulsive need to rescue others, however, and is overly protective of Marissa and Theresa, his main love interests on the show. The fact that he rarely smiles is something of a running joke among other members of the Cohen household.
Ryan's favorite fruit is peaches, and his favorite band is Journey. Some of his other extracurricular activities include soccer during his sophomore year of high school (first year in Harbor). Ryan (by his own words) used to play soccer before going to Harbor and a soccer ball is sometimes seen in the Cohen's pool house. And despite the generosity of his adoptive family, Ryan repeatedly demonstrates he can earn his own keep by taking paying jobs around town, such as a busboy at the Crab Shack, a construction worker, an intern at the Newport Group, and a barback position.
Read more about this topic: Ryan Atwood
Famous quotes containing the word personality:
“The great pines stand at a considerable distance from each other. Each tree grows alone, murmurs alone, thinks alone. They do not intrude upon each other. The Navajos are not much in the habit of giving or of asking help. Their language is not a communicative one, and they never attempt an interchange of personality in speech. Over their forests there is the same inexorable reserve. Each tree has its exalted power to bear.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“Unable to create a meaningful life for itself, the personality takes its own revenge: from the lower depths comes a regressive form of spontaneity: raw animality forms a counterpoise to the meaningless stimuli and the vicarious life to which the ordinary man is conditioned. Getting spiritual nourishment from this chaos of events, sensations, and devious interpretations is the equivalent of trying to pick through a garbage pile for food.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)
“I am what is mine. Personality is the original personal property.”
—Norman O. Brown (b. 1913)