Casual Conversations
In realism, or at least the realism I've been reading, much of the characterization is done through the casual conversations and actions of the characters. Take Last Exit; you've got these horrible situations happening, you've got rape and abuse and murder, you've got prostitutes and drug use, and what matters is how Tralala talks to the men she associates with. The actual insane moments, the times when society seems to be falling apart at the seams, they seem to be so much less important than a note that there was some lipstick left on a shot glass by previous prostitutes.
Look at The World According to Garp, that pivotal scene in Vienna where Garp's first real friend, if you could call her that, dies just before Garp comes to see her. We see Garp approach a morally upright nurse who objected to the whore's staying at the private hospital; she tells Garp matter of factly that the woman is dead. Garp says something to the effect of, "You too, mein frau, will be dead some day." This is just a natural response for him, there is no deep planning, it is casual yet it is probably the best line in the book. It shows Garp's growth as a natural writer, his ability to turn a phrase, his growing courage, his new sense of courage. It is a total transformation of character, and it is just a natural response. It's not even mentioned again.
What I mean is, character seems to be defined not by the extremities of a character, but they're actions in a normal situation. Garp responded to death as he saw best, Tralala talked about beating a man for money as a normal occurrence, and that is that. How casual it all is it what defines it; let's say a big deal was made out of Tralala's seeming ignorance of the atrocities she's a part of. If it was constantly noted, wouldn't it lose impact? If the characters saw it as a big deal, wouldn't we accept that they knew there was a problem with the whole situation? If the character doesn't actively fight against the constraints of society and even fails to notice them at all, we see true horror. We see how society has been turned on its head yet no one notices. If Last Exit is condemning of America at the time, it is because it portrays the horrid as casual, the death of a man as ordinary as going to work.
So casual conversation is used to portray a character's true feelings as represented by their social interactions. But why is it casual conversation? All of the most tense situations are used to move the plot and develop a scene, but it is conversations in coffee shops which define the characters. I would argue this is because we can only truly represent ourselves in a situation where there is no pressure, there is no tension, there is no horror. Sitting in a coffee shop or a diner, life seems to be occurring only outside the windows. There is no dread that the wrong word would hurt someone, there is only quiet discussion and stained cups.
Look at The World According to Garp, that pivotal scene in Vienna where Garp's first real friend, if you could call her that, dies just before Garp comes to see her. We see Garp approach a morally upright nurse who objected to the whore's staying at the private hospital; she tells Garp matter of factly that the woman is dead. Garp says something to the effect of, "You too, mein frau, will be dead some day." This is just a natural response for him, there is no deep planning, it is casual yet it is probably the best line in the book. It shows Garp's growth as a natural writer, his ability to turn a phrase, his growing courage, his new sense of courage. It is a total transformation of character, and it is just a natural response. It's not even mentioned again.
What I mean is, character seems to be defined not by the extremities of a character, but they're actions in a normal situation. Garp responded to death as he saw best, Tralala talked about beating a man for money as a normal occurrence, and that is that. How casual it all is it what defines it; let's say a big deal was made out of Tralala's seeming ignorance of the atrocities she's a part of. If it was constantly noted, wouldn't it lose impact? If the characters saw it as a big deal, wouldn't we accept that they knew there was a problem with the whole situation? If the character doesn't actively fight against the constraints of society and even fails to notice them at all, we see true horror. We see how society has been turned on its head yet no one notices. If Last Exit is condemning of America at the time, it is because it portrays the horrid as casual, the death of a man as ordinary as going to work.
So casual conversation is used to portray a character's true feelings as represented by their social interactions. But why is it casual conversation? All of the most tense situations are used to move the plot and develop a scene, but it is conversations in coffee shops which define the characters. I would argue this is because we can only truly represent ourselves in a situation where there is no pressure, there is no tension, there is no horror. Sitting in a coffee shop or a diner, life seems to be occurring only outside the windows. There is no dread that the wrong word would hurt someone, there is only quiet discussion and stained cups.