Chapter 11: .. More Than It's Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence

Foster states that there are two kinds of violence within literature, character caused and accidents that are not actually accidents.  The effects of each are different.  They are different in the way that the characters respond to them.  Character caused violence has a buildup, whether it be through bullying or some kind of broken home system.  Throughout the book, the reader waits for the other shoe to drop.  Whereas accidents are unexpected, they are sudden, they are tragic.  There is no time for goodbyes and there is only a sudden flood of unexpected grief.  They both have one thing in common though, the author introduces death to further the plot.  The author introduces death in order to advance the mental capabilities of their characters, to give a new effective twist to the characters they have already created.  Some would call authors cruel, perhaps throw books at walls, when instead the author is trying to introduce grief to the characters.  Violence is heavily symbolic and heavily personal.  Everyone in their life has seen violence to some degree, others have seen it more up close than others.  Violence is used to make the reader feel in the moment.  Let the reader know it is incredibly possible that this could happen to them.  Violence is meant to make the reader become closer to the book.