A character's response to any event will show the moral weight he ascribes to it. It is normal, I think, both in fiction and in the real world, for different characters in the same milieu to have different value systems. I think the purpose of fiction is to ask questions not to answer them. If the moral perceptions of characters in a story are universally shared, it probably is a fairly simple story. I agree with your statement: It's important to remind ourselves that fiction is not concerned with solving philosophical and theological questions. Fairy tales are different of course.
Yes, that's a good point. A character's response to an event will show the moral weight he ascribes to it, which is a fundamental insight to his character. The character inventory books often worry about such things as whether the character like marmalade on their toast, but character is really as collection of moral values.
This is excellent and very on point for the novel I'm working on, about an imperfect, ordinary judge required to make a morally weighty decision and the aftermath. So much contemporary realistic fiction feels clever but "light," because it wants to be "sophisticated" by never committing to a moral position beyond Oprah-ish platitudes.
A character's response to any event will show the moral weight he ascribes to it. It is normal, I think, both in fiction and in the real world, for different characters in the same milieu to have different value systems. I think the purpose of fiction is to ask questions not to answer them. If the moral perceptions of characters in a story are universally shared, it probably is a fairly simple story. I agree with your statement: It's important to remind ourselves that fiction is not concerned with solving philosophical and theological questions. Fairy tales are different of course.
Yes, that's a good point. A character's response to an event will show the moral weight he ascribes to it, which is a fundamental insight to his character. The character inventory books often worry about such things as whether the character like marmalade on their toast, but character is really as collection of moral values.
This is excellent and very on point for the novel I'm working on, about an imperfect, ordinary judge required to make a morally weighty decision and the aftermath. So much contemporary realistic fiction feels clever but "light," because it wants to be "sophisticated" by never committing to a moral position beyond Oprah-ish platitudes.
"Clever but light." That's it exactly.