Characters in the story

Japanese: 作中人物 - さくちゅうじんぶつ

Characters in literary works are often confused with real people, giving the author or reader the illusion of identifying with them, but in the sense that they are given existence only through words and appear only in the work, they are entirely paper entities. Broadly speaking, they can be divided into leading roles, supporting roles, and minor roles, and can be classified into dynamic characters whose personalities change and static characters whose personalities remain the same, flat characters and characters with depth, characters who serve the plot and characters who influence the plot, etc., but their personalities are not inherent, but stem from various rhetorical devices devised by the author so that the reader can project their own inner self into them.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

文学作品中に登場する人物は，しばしば生身の人間と混同され，作者ないし読者が彼らと同化する錯覚を起こすが，言葉によってしか存在を与えられず，作中にしか姿を現さないという意味で，彼らはまったく紙の上の存在である。大別して主役，脇役，端役に分かれ，性格が変わっていく動的人物と変わらない静的人物，平板な人物と奥行のある人物，筋に奉仕する人物と筋を左右する人物等に分類できるが，彼らの性格は内在的に備わったものではなく，読者が自己の内面を投影できるよう，作者がくふうした種々の修辞学的装置に由来する。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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