Character vs action

Stevenson writes of Treasure Island that he deliberately made his pirates not realistic and
true persons, but pirates as a boy conceives the breed, fierce mustachioed fellows, with wide trousers and belts full of pistols. In Treasure Island character is not the objective. Provided the buccaneers walk and fight with sufficient swagger, it is enough; the rest is soul-stirring adventure. Less skilful writers think nothing of checking the flow of action to bore and dis¬concert the reader with analysis of motive or with irrelevant comment. Every reader will recall stories in which the author has endeavored to do too many things, to tell exciting incident, and to analyze character as well. And because the story purpose is uncertain the reader's in¬terest is divided, and his reaction not pleasure but ...a confused sense of irritation, the feeling that something is wrong somewhere. Character should then be subordinated if the story deals mainly with action. If the story is one of ab¬stract idea or is concerned mostly with setting, an equal subordination of character is essential. Thus in Hawthorne's short stories the reader perceives often that the characters are but per¬sonified ideas, and their purpose nothing more than the revelation of the author's philosophy.
Category:Character