Oh Sigrid (Mostly getting my thoughts on Blog)

My final paper has proven to be far more vexing than I previously anticipated.  Writing about the early 1900s, whilst fulfilling my love of that era, has presented its own set of difficulties.  Perhaps the most irritating would be my annoying tendency to interpret the past through my decidedly fish-eyed lens, attempting to make my "interesting historical figure" into nothing more than a Beth surrogate, with ideas and ideals that are far too atypical for her time period.

To counteract this, I've been focusing a lot on Sigrid's Christian faith, which comes to her far more easily than it has ever/will ever come to me.  But is there a point where it becomes too cloying?  Her father was a pastor for a small farming community (decidedly Norwegian, to balance my decidedly Czech heritage) which would account for her strong faith.  She's far too nice, far too blonde, and just a tad boring.

But I wonder if I'm focusing far too much on who she is and then deciding what she symbolizes? It's probably my creative side dominating my academic one (not that they're unable to coexist in this setting, mind you), but has anyone run into this problem?  Do you find it better to plan out your person's purpose first and then tailor their day around it, or is the inverse true?