Moral Messages? - Part 2: How your protagonist affects your story's themes - Daily Controversy #8

So sorry for publishing this late!

Hello everyone!

Welcome to part 2 of the miniseries, “Moral Messages?”  Part one can be found here.

This article will build on topics previously discussed in part 1, so it might not have as much substance.

In the last article, we asked,

Think about it.  Does the point of view (POV) your story is written in affect its messages?

Today we will expand upon points made in part 1.

1. Mental Tresspasses (MTs)

What in the world is an MT and what could it possibly have to do with this topic?

1. KingdomPen defines MTs as “when an author (whether intentionally or unintentionally) plays with the emotions of a reader to get him to form an emotional connection with something he would never approve of intellectually.”

2. MTs were indirectly covered in part 1. The article goes on to list some examples of MTs:

1. “The protagonist is immoral, but because he/she is young, attractive, the underdog, and the antagonists are jerks, the audience is beguiled into overlooking the protagonist’s flaws. (As seen in every Hollywood movie ever. Well…at least many of them.)

2. A character commits a rebellious act in a spirit of anger. Later, the same character commits the same rebellious act, but this time the act is portrayed as justifiable. Readers are so supportive of the character’s motives in the second instance that they are tempted to excuse him for his foul behavior earlier on. (As seen in The Burning Bridge.)”

This does not mean your protagonist has to be perfect so that the reader does not somehow magically develop the character’s flaws.

The point of the concept of MTs is to serve as a reminder for authors to simply consider their readers.

Going off on a small tangent and returning to talking about POV, the reason I wanted to talk about these subjects was because of experience.  I have been ‘mentally trespassed’ and I want to avoid doing that for my readers (for example that one protagonist I have who I refuse to ever write in 1st person POV because he is not a great person and almost becomes an antagonist).

Ultimately, it matters how much the reader can handle and the author’s intent when they write something.  That is what truly shapes the book’s themes.

Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments!  I’ll try to respond as best I can.

— Joanna ❤

https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/stack-of-books-burning-picture-id1035600822?k=6&m=1035600822&s=612x612&w=0&h=75hQWUffRCjJfsCUG_PKWdAUvQp1i0GPW5yxDr7PFgo= for the photo