Perhaps part of the anger

Perhaps part of the anger the man feels toward the boys is prompted by their mockery of the lady who issues the reprimand. Paley tells us only that “he walked in a citizenly way” when he went to pull the emergency cord. Consider­ ing the dire results of the man’s action, Paley is using verbal irony here, mean­ ing the opposite of the literal meaning of the words good citizen. No one acting like a good citizen wants to cause a small boy’s death. As readers, we instinc­ tively strive to connect the events of a story by more than their simple chrono­ logical sequence, because assuming connections between the events and the inner life of the characters makes the story seem coherent.

How are the characters in a short story to be understood? Any discussion of character tends to drift into a value judgment, as our principles of definition and evaluation for fictional characters are based on the ones we use for real

12 The Elements of Fiction: A Storyteller’s Means

people, tentative and unfocused as they may be. We must remember that we are reading about fictional characters in a short story, not real ones. The only evidence we have about characters is what the author puts into the story.

We are on firmer ground in literary discussions when we analyze the writer’s method of characterization as well as the character’s personality. Paley’s method is one of economy; the extremely short length of her story mir­ rors Samuel’s brief lifetime. Writing a realistic story, she might be suggesting that characters from modest economic backgrounds have little control over their fates in the big city, underscoring the tragedy of the loss of a young boy who never had the chance to grow up.