I've always had a compassion for characters in novels - the sense that they are, whatever they might think, living in a world that has a shape they don't know and can't finally alter.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the complexity of characters in novels, emphasizing their lack of control over their destinies.
This quote by John Crowley highlights the inherent struggle of fictional characters who, despite their thoughts and desires, find themselves bound by the confines of a narrative they cannot influence. It draws attention to the notion that while characters navigate their worlds, they are ultimately shaped by the author's intentions and the structure of the story, paralleling human experiences where individuals often feel powerless in the face of larger forces at play in their lives.
In practice
During a book club discussion about character development.
She had always lived her best life in dreams. She knew no greater pleasure than that moment of passage into the other place, when her limbs grew warm and heavy and the sparkling darkness behind her lids became ordered and doors opened; when conscious thought grew owl's wings and talons and became other than conscious.
Just as a lamp waved in darkness creates a figure of light in the air, which remains for as long as the lamp repeats its motion exactly, so the universe retains its shape by repetition: the universe is Time's body. And how will we perceive this body? And how operate on it?
When you achieve equality, and freedom, and fairness, it's not because I grant it to you. It's because you fought for it because it is your right. This is not about benevolence or charity; it is about every human being's God-given right.
If the black box flight recorder is never damaged during a plane crash, why isn’t the whole airplane made out of that stuff?
Free speech is the bedrock of liberty and a free society. And yes, it includes the right to blaspheme and offend.
When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity.
The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.
There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself.
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