It has to do with the stories we read in semester a. in her essay “writing short stories”, flannery o’connor says this about characterization: “you can’t cut characters off from their society and say much about them as individuals.” and “you can’t say anything meaningful about the mystery of personality unless you put that personality in a believable and significant social context.” consider the quotation above. then pick a story from semester a and evaluate how the social context and the characters work together not only to provide a vivid setting, but also to explain and develop the characters thoughts’, words, and actions.

Context lets people know what the circumstances of the characters are, and what influences that they may have, and such other things like that.

For example in the story 'Owl Creek Bridge' that was written by Ambrose, It started with the description of Peyton Farquhar being tied with his wrist bounded with a cord and a rope encircling his neck, this narrated that he either was captured or was being sentenced to death for a serious crime.

As his death came closer thoughts of escaping flooded his mind; "If I could free my hands, I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance.", as he mentions his wife and kids it reveals that he was a caring father and spouse.

The next part of the story brought his adventures and daring side out as he had fallen into the stream and the rope around his had broken, despite the pain he had escaped the men who had pointed their guns at him and had tried to shoot him as he tried to dodge their bullets.

The sensory details in this story had the reader feeling as if he was right beside Peyton Farquhar, its highly detailed description of the setting had led my heart pounding until the very end. At the end when he finally finds his way home and he spots his wife, he thinks about how beautiful she is and he jumps in for a hug shows his love and admiration to his family.

all: 19,619

monthly: 467.14

step-by-step explanation:

"character is what you are in the dark." dwight lyman moody, in this very witty quotation of his, states we act and think differently when we are "in the dark", that is, when the spotlight is not on us and everyone can see us and consequently judge us. when reading, we tend to be sympathetic to some characters and their dilemmas. by being so, we are saying to ourselves that we agree with those characters' acts and choices, even if they are morally questionable if we have common sense in mind. dwight lyman moody's quotation applies very well to "crime and punishment", by   19th century russian writer fiodor dostoyevsky. raskolnikov, the main character, a former law student who spends his days reflecting upon life and its misery, draws a fatal conclusion: mankind is divided in two main categories: ordinary and extraordinary people. the first are the ones who lead a run-of-the-mill existence and are full of imperfections; the latter are the ones who are spiritually superior, the ones who always know better, and have the right to judge the ordinary ones, as well as eliminate them if for common good. raskolnikov considers himself as belonging to the extraordinary category and decides to kill an old lady who is a money lender and in whose house he rents a small room. raskolnikov compares himself to napoleon, who had the undeniable right to execute tons of people during the war in order to save his nation. of course what the main character decides to do is a horrendous crime, but as readers we feel it is the right thing for him to do, since the victim is a mean old woman who only thinks about money and keeps humiliating her younger sister. what one experiences is a mixture of sympathy and empathy for the character, even though he decides to commit homicide, which is not at all accepted or tolerated by civilized citizens. however, since readers are "in the dark", they allow themselves to feel in ways they would probably never dare to confess to anyone, no matter how nasty or vicious a character can be. after all, they are just reading and doing no harm. in other words, readers are in the dark and can be who they are without being judged.