Analysis Of E. M. Forster's Aspects Of The Novel

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E.M. Forster in his book Aspects of the Novel says that actors or characters of a novel are “a more important topic”. According to him, since the novelist himself is a human being, there is an affinity between him and his “subject matter” and is thus linked to them more intimately than many of his colleagues. A novelist creates various word masses and gives them possible attributes like name, sex and dialogues to make their personality. However, Forster explains that “they do not come this coldly to his mind” but are created because of his experiences with himself and others, that is, almost all the characters are a reflection of the novelist’s own self or what he has perceived about others. But these perceptions should not be produced exactly like they were. “There is bound to be a difference” (Forster 55) says Forster as otherwise they will not be actors and the novel would turn out to be a “memoir”, which is history. He explains the principle involved in the design of actors by a novelist and calls them
“Homo Fictus, the cousin of Homo Sapiens”. He says that the reason readers can understand more about characters than they can about humans is that their “creator and narrator is the same.” Nicholas Sparks has thus succeeded in creating characters similar to how Forster has explained. Not just the settings of his novels is in North Carolina, the place he lives in but almost all his characters are inspired from his own life or the lives of his close ones, especially in the

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