Why Do We Care About Literary Characters

For Vermeule, the distinction of fiction is located in the profound and unique attachments that readers form with characters—people they know do not exist

McDonnold discuss why some characters are so memorable to their audience: “We can argue, perhaps, that the memorable characters are the ones we know the most

Why do we care about fictional char- acters? Rhetorical theory's answer is that fiction activates a double-consciousness in its readers: actual readers

empathize with someone of a different race, not because we do not care about the plight of literary characters have their own outlook on life, just as other

To do it, we turn to different works framed in the field of social psy- chology and cognitive film theory, we describe some textual resources that audiovisual

Why Do We Care About Literary Characters? The Johns Hopkins University Press December 2009. The Party of Humanity: Writing Moral Psychology in Eighteenth

Therefore, we should determine how children perceive fictional characters and teach them that they are imaginary figures. In this way, we can help them approach

This Social Sciences is brought to you for free and open access by the Current Journals at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in

In this article, we focus specifically on clarifying how the character module is related to existing Vermeule B (2010) Why do we care about literary

Do you enjoy your book's main character? What is your reasoning? 10 Narrative Empathy, Vulnerability and Ethics of Care in William Trevor‟s Fiction

The reason we can engage with fictional characters is that the recently Why Do We Care about Literary Characters? Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins UP

4 Sept 2025 Vermeule B (2010) Why do we care about literary characters? Johns Hopkins University Press. Vishnubhotla K, Rudzicz F, Hirst G and Hammond A

A good book draws you in, makes you feel involved in the story, makes you care about the characters. It's a sign of a successful story when the struggles of the

From the research done by Keen and Johansen, we know that literature can evoke emotions and elicit empathy. I am not making an assumption that all texts evoke

6 Sept 2017 expanding the circle of those we care about and our ability to help them. And empathy exercised in response to fictional characters is

9 Apr 2019 We have the impression that we care about fictional characters, but it is only fictional that we do. We do, however, have real emotions that

But if they're not real, why do we care about them enough to read fiction? Further, why has there been such a profound disconnect for the past several

they are instantiated, or whether or not they have been created. Where fictional characters are concerned, I have argued that although they are abstract in

I argue that such a mutual exchange between the reader's identity and a fictional character is possible as both of them have a narrative structure and are sort

(2007 and Blakey Vermeule's Why Do We Care about Literary. Characters? (2010 In this article I will use the young adult novel Slated. (2012 by the