Lecture 4: Fictional Characters, Imagined and Observed
But Brontë has Jane Eyre address readers directly, inviting us to view
the world through her eyes and to endorse her judgments.The Psychology-Circumstances Continuum
z To understand the exterior-interior continuum from a slightly different
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o We’re tempted to think that Emma is determined by her
circumstances, but notice that it’s the way her particular
psychology butts up against the people and the world around
her that makes the book funny.o In -DQH(\UH, even though we have instant access to Jane’s
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that largely determine the course of the novel, even though
we see that struggle mainly through its effect on her thoughts
and feelings.The books of American realist writers tend to be large-scale portraits of a
whole city or class of people, emphasizing the social world through which the
characters move rather than their individuality.© Valueline/Hulton Collection/Thinkstock.