The Set Up

I love books written in the mid 1800s. I'm still in the process of figuring out why. Part of it is the reflection of the Industrial Revolution and the empowerment to the lower classes it brought, but there is more. For a few years I've been reflecting on why I would rather read Elizabeth Gaskell, the Bronte sisters, etc. Even Jane Austen a little earlier and E.M. Forester a little later hold my interest much better than authors of today.

Finally I realized what it is. Its the character development. I love to understand and identify with the characters. Through the characters, I find truth to my own life or realize I identify with them about things I never before knew about myself.

I'm not a plot reader. I'm a character reader. Fancy plots mean nothing to me without being able to identify with the person or people experiencing the action. Maybe I'm alone out there- I must be to some point because not many books are being written these days focused on the characters rather than the plot, but if anyone can recommend current fiction with amazing character development, I'd love to know about it.

Any way, back to the point. I just started an Elizabeth Gaskell book, Mary Barton, and as I was starting it I quickly noticed that the first chapter did not even introduce Mary, the main character, and not even until the fourth did she become a major character. It was about her parents, her mothers death, and the effect it had on her childhood and relationship to her father. Now, as I start to read about her life as a young adult, I have a much better idea of what she is thinking and how she will react to events that come her way.

Its all about the set up. Its all about the introduction to the story. The best story would be left bland and tasteless without drawing in the audience before complexities start.

The same with education. Controls and variables to experiments mean nothing to children who have never wondered about the world around them, and had that curiosity encouraged. Addition means nothing to a child who doesn't understand the power of being able use it in their world.

Its all about the set up.

Relationships too. With out actually taking the time to listen, to hear the background of the life that they're living, to crawl into the skin of a friend in an interesting situation, how could one ever identify and care?

Its all about the set up.