Character Development & subrahmaNya SAstree
Jagdish Bisa (jbisa@tiac.net)
Tue, 03 Mar 1998 15:02:57 -0500
This is just how I want things to work for me when I write. It's like
the world in my writing is a simulation, my mind is the simulator, and
the characters are complex automata whose behaviors are determined by
their personalities, their histories, and each event during the
simulation that affects them in one way or another.
For every event I wish to happen in the story, I must rig things at the
start, set the characters' pasts and who they are so that those events
will simply happen as a logical result of who these people are.
Unfortunately, sometimes, and only sometimes I just get attached to one
of these guys when I'm planning, or even midway in the writing, giving
step father treatment to the rest of the characters. And even though
they're independent of me, I do not try my best to act for them the way
they would have, simply because I got attached to one character more
than the rest. I am not a writer.
That's why I admire _real_ writers. Writers who sometimes feel that
their characters have been affected differently by something than they
thought they would - and still chose to act out their part with
honesty. Writers who solve the problem of predicting their characters'
behavior, which is akin to a complex multivariable calculus problem,
even from the writer's omniscient standpoint. Yes, I admire _real_
writers a lot.
There are several such _real_ writers in telugu. Sreepaada subrahmaNya
Saastri is one of them. I'll present just one instance of his
commitment for fully developed characters.
*********
In his short story _kalupu mokkalu_, avadhaanlu (sort of a protagonist)
after being brutally humiliated for the compromise he's made, meets
this vESya, SEshAcalam, to pursue her to entertain the 'president'.
With an almost zero self esteem, avadhaanlu approaches her, expecting
nothing more than further insults. But, much for his surprise, he finds
her extremely courteous and cultured in every respect. In an ironic
state he mutters:
"pedda kulam lO puTTavalisina daanivammaa, neevu!"
SEshaacalam gets offended at his words.
*********
Why did she get offended?
Simple. Because both the writer and the reader knew what has happened to
avadhaanlu, and why he's in that state, but she doesn't. There's no way
she could have had the same sort of _sympathy_, that the writer and the
reader might have had towards avadhaanlu at that point, so that she
could have _understood_ his irony and kept quiet.
The story could have proceeded towards the same destiny with or without
SEshaachalam being offended at avadhaanlu's words. Average reader can
never find the difference. Nor does an average reader cares much about
such things. But then, we wouldn't be talking about Sreepaada's
characters today in this forum, either!
-Jagdish (that sreedEvi's character in _kshaNa kshaNam_ is
underdeveloped, no?) Bisa