Summary and analysis of the chapter "PEOPLE(2)" from Aspects of Novel by E.M Foster.

People (continued):

The things that make a novel a good novel are plot, pacing and characters. In this essay we are going to talk about characters. When we talk about characters in a novel being very “life like” what we actually mean is that those charactersshow some similarities to real life people. Now these characters ae living breathing beings inside the novelist’s head, there to basically give life to the plot but the first rule of living is change. So either these characters end up changing the plot or changing with the plot or, if the novelist tries to keep them

The novelist tries to overcome this problem through the following

·         Characterization

·         Point of view

CHARACTERIZATION:

There are two kinds of characters in any book; flat characters and round characters.

Flat Characters: these characters are also called “humorous” characters or caricatures. These type of characters have single quality that defines them and it occurs so frequently that those characters become synonymous to that quality. These characters are the idea they represent and their very existence radiates it. One of the advantages of flat characters is that whenever they appear it gives us a glimpse into the future about what might happen. They act as kind of a foreshadowing. For example, Draco Malfoy from the series Harry Potterrepresents snotty arrogant prick. So whenever he came into a scene it was obvious that something bad was going to happen with our protagonist.

Other two advantages of flat characters are that they are remembered by the reader and do not need re-introducing and they do not need to be looked after for character development. They remain the same by the end of the novel as they were in the beginning.

Round Characters: A round character is extremely realistic, behaving and speaking in a "real life" manner. The character is complex and increases in complexity throughout the story. A round character is capable of contradiction and change with evidence of emotional and psychological development. Round characters are major characters in a story; they encounter contradictory situations and undergo transformation during this phase. Authors develop round characters to make their stories more believable and effective. The first rule of round characters is that they change throughout the story. If these characters do not surprise the reader in a convincing way at some plot during the novel they are flat characters. Round characters also tend to be more organized and bring more to the table than the flat characters. For example, professor Snape from the Harry Potter series was always seen to be a bully and a mean teacher but in Deathly Hallows we found out that he was actually protecting the protagonist the whole time.

One problem with characterization is that complexities of human nature cannot be captured completely. Novelists take what they like and leave the rest. This is something called the “novelist’s touch”. It falsifies life. It is very much possible that what a novelist may right might be true but in no way is it the truth.

POINT OF VIEW:

Point of view is the angle of considering things, which shows us the opinion, or feelings of the individuals involved in a situation. In literature, point of view is the mode of narration that an author employs to let the readers “hear” and “see” what takes place in a story. To some critics it is the fundamental device of novel writing.

There are three different kinds of point of view;

1.       First person point of view which involves either of the two pronouns “I” or “we”.

2.       Second person point of view which involves the pronoun “you”

3.       Third person point of view which employs the pronoun “he”, “she”, “it”, “they” or a name.

Some novelists shift points of view while telling a story in order to explain the lot better. One of the best examples of this is George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones series where each chapter is told in the point of view of a different character. According to E. M. Forster, some critics think that this not the right way to tell a story but times have change and todays day and age, writing in different points f view is not considered such a bad thing as long as the plot is carried out perfectly and the characters are interesting.

References:

Aspects of Novel by E. M. Forster

literarydevices.net