Character

Chapter 3, Character

It's all about the who, as much as the where and how.
Any person plating a role within a story is a character, and the art of representing these characters is Characterization. A voice in the story, common terms for characters are Hero, Villian, Heroine, Anti-Hero, Protagonist, and Antagonist. There are major and minor players within a story, the latter being the figures that "fill out the story."
Characters that change and develop in front of the reader are said to be Round Characters; these often have conflicting motives. Flat Characters are figures that behave in "unsurprising ways". But, we must not get hung up on palcing characters into these terms, rather realize that simple characters are not always as they seem.
Characters based upon conscious or unconscious cultural assumptions about age, sex, ethnicity, occupation....are "stereotypes"...and we all tend to have some built withing ourselves over time.

"Character is Destiny", quote from George Eliot

"What I Live at the P.O.," by Eudora Welty

Wow, what a character the Narrator, "Sister," was! The small town of China Grove, Mississippi is the setting...really the family's home is where all the "family drama" takes place. The Narrator is simply not reliable. One call tell by reading that there is just a huge, long-lasting case of sibling rivalry and probably neither sister sees reality in an all together true light. Each having their won misconceptions about what happened and why. The thought that Sister's younger sister, Stella-Rondo, actaully stole a man from Sister is just one misconception Sister holds onto. Actually, there was never any romance between Sister and Mr. Whitaker....only an affair in the mind of Sister and perhaps the hopes she could marry and escape the small town.

"Of course, I went with Mr. Whitaker first, when he first appeared in China Grove, taking "Pose Yourself" photos, and Stella-Rondo broke us up. Told him I was one-sided...."

There Sister goes, claiming she knows what others have said and quick to draw her own conclusions about it all!

Of course, the family arguement about why Stella-Rondo has separated from her husband and if the child is adopted, and if anyone cares about the little dramas carried on by the two fighting siblings will not be long-lived. They all need each other, even if it only to create some drama and pain to help them all feel alive and loved. Sister just wants to know all about the problems in Stella-Rondo's marriage, and probably deep down will spend a couple weeks at most living at the P.O. before someone visits her or begs her to come home. Sister may feel like life is passing her by. She went to Normal school to learn, but remains in her hometown, still tied to her family and the daily chores she thinks go unnoticed. Sister just never quite grew out of her resentments for her little "spoiled" sister, and remains in the world of self-pity and "I am the victim here" mentality
The Narrator is definitely Unreliable.
But, I loved the banter and sarcasm within the family, the writing flowed with realism and I could almost see them all making faces and using aggravating tones with each other.