10.15.08 | In Cold Blood [day3] Goal[s]: Schedule: Attendance & Questions? What is identification? Discussion question on character Class discussion HW – read Capote, section 2. Goal[s]: Analyze ways in which blurring line between fact and fiction influences experiences as well as theories of immersion. Assess the role of character in immersion.

What makes a good character? Are there some fictional characters that you really care about? Why?

Why do we care about fictional characters? Augustine, in The Confessions, laments at one point that he cries for the characters in the plays he watches, who aren’t even real. He resolves to stop watching theatre. Think about how odd it is to affirm as true a statement like “Mrs. Dalloway left the house to buy flowers for her party.” It is true in the story but, because it is a fictional statement, it has to be untrue; here was no Dalloway, there are no flowers. There is no disagreement here, but then, think about how odd it is, then, if one were to care about what happens to Dalloway, to care about things, people, and places that never existed. Why do we care about fictional characters?

Characters What is the nature of our relationships to fictional characters? How do we interact with them? How do we relate to them? How do texts facilitate or construct these relationships?

Emotional response: Sympathy Empathy  b. Physiol. and Path. A relation between two bodily organs or parts (or between two persons) such that disorder, or any condition, of the one induces a corresponding condition in the other. The quality or state of being affected by the condition of another with a feeling similar or corresponding to that of the other; the fact or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings of another or others; fellow-feeling. Also, a feeling or frame of mind evoked by and responsive to some external influence. Const. with (a person, etc., or a feeling).   The power of projecting one's personality into (and so fully comprehending) the object of contemplation.

Sympathy v. Empathy Which describes our relationship to fictional characters? What about our relationship to Perry? What does any of this have to do with immersion?

Discussion Q. In section II, Capote gives the reader a lot of intimate information and insight into Perry’s life. Given this knowledge, how would you describe your personal connection with Perry? As a result of any such connection, do you find that these textual features enhance or inhibit your immersion into the text?