Character development

My bean/cassoulet friend (a woman who matches my New England/European experiences which increases areas of understanding ten fold) and I have been discussing character development and will continue to do so as a planned activity. Between her work/writing and mine it is not mere gossip when we examine why so and so said this or that, but a tool for other aspects of our lives.

Over the weekend we were discussing the French novel ALBERTA and she said she did not understand why the character Camille (French pronunciation Ca-mee) wasn’t more aware.

On falling into bed but not asleep last night I wondered what influence culture plays on novel characters not on the superficial level of a Frenchman saying ‘Voilà and sitting in a brasserie with a glass of wine, but deep within their emotions and the emotions of the writers themselves. I suspect it runs so deep that there is little awareness.

Those of us living as internationals with partners and friends of other cultures refer to this or that habit as French, Italian, Japanese or whatever. We shrug when someone says or does something we feel is out of sink for our roots but natural for the one doing it.

A scene in the movie PEINDRE OU FAIRE AMOUR (Paint or Make Love) bounced into my brain. A couple buying a house from another couple stayed for dinner. The pretty blond potential buyer asked to use the bathroom (in most French houses the bathroom is just that and the toilet is in a separate room) She asks the seller to stay as she washes in the bidet. She strips and when she stands in all her glory after washing her privates he reaches for a towel and dries them all with less discussion than which cheeses to serve after dinner.

I read an essay by Susan Tiberghien, the force behind the Geneva Writers Group. She lives in two languages: How she acts during the day depends on which language she is living in. If she is speaking French she dresses more formally, eats proper meals and talks less to strangers on the street. Activities are preplanned. If it is an English day she might be in sweats, have snacks, gab to the woman next in line at the post office and call a friend to see a movie the same afternoon. (This paragraph does not do justice to the essay).

Somewhere in this all is a doctoral dissertation on character development and cultural influences and the comparison between the novels from two countries. It would go beyond whether a character bought a baguette at the bakery each day on his way down rue Emile Zola in the 15em arrondissement in Paris before mounting to his apartment in an iron grill elevator or opened a package of Wonder Bread and spread peanut butter and jelly as a snack. The next step might be talking or not talking to a woman in line at the post office. However it goes far, far deeper.

It is not a dissertation that I will tackle for I don’t want to do the background work in anthropology, sociology, linguistics, etc. that it would take. But at the same time, I want to explore more deeply what cultural aspects influence people.