Characters divide between connecting across past and present or settling into patriotic complacency

Evidence

Yet traces of the past always persist in the present, whether through the cherished memories of lost loved ones such as Konrad Weiss, incinerated at Nagasaki, or in the incalculable way the consequences of national strategic interests play out over time. Like Hiroko, one can seek connections between past and present (and between people and times) despite all obstacles, or one can settle into the deceptively comforting yet deadly complacencies of patriotism, as to differing degrees do Harry Burton and his daughter, Kim. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 423

Categorization

• STORYSTEM: The pairing of ‘connection-seeking’ vs ‘patriotic complacency’ as rival stances toward history is a usable character-axis for future fiction.
• XREF: connects to: Patriotic songs signal a country’s loss when played amid wartime news; Partition fiction repeatedly forces characters to choose between homeland and Pakistan — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 875; Mixed-heritage second-generation characters embody crossed postcolonial histories — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 423 (+9 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Patriotic songs signal a country’s loss when played amid wartime news; Partition fiction repeatedly forces characters to choose between homeland and Pakistan — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 875; Mixed-heritage second-generation characters embody crossed postcolonial histories — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 423 (+9 more)