Material and economic precarity, not fate, drives a character’s suffering

Evidence

Proulx’s concern with the economic conditions of these lives underpins her work. She is not a romantic, or given to the pathetic fallacy; these stories are never sentimental or elegiac. The characters are not doomed, they are harassed, disregarded and gnawed by chronic anxiety about the basics of existence. If the natural order is indifferent to them, so is the free market. They live in that kind of economic insecurity, without reserves, where the least piece of ill luck can break them. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 525

Categorization

• SEED: A craft essay angle on grounding character misfortune in economics rather than melodrama or pathos.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 525
• XREF: connects to: Character is sketched through specific physical details and social pressures — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 81; Suffering arises from clinging to impermanent things. — Dan Harris, 10 percent Happier, 447; The father’s inaction can intensify a child’s suffering. — Dave Pelzer, A Child Called ‘It’, 137 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Suffering arises from clinging to impermanent things. #contradicts (0.55) — Dan Harris, 10 percent Happier, 447
• Antillean inferiority is governed by a social fiction rather than a personal one #expands (0.50)
• The father’s inaction can intensify a child’s suffering. #expands (0.40) — Dave Pelzer, A Child Called ‘It’, 137