Moral Fiction
Yesterday, I ran across the video above, from Barnes & Noble Studio, on The Daily Beast’s Book Beast page. I’m not a fan of Jodi Picoult, though, to be fair, I’ve only read one of her books, My Sister’s Keeper. I was so disappointed with it, particularly the very deus ex machina feeling of the end, that I have never considered reading another.
I know Picoult has legions of fans, so it’s entirely possible that I’m just missing something everyone else sees. But I was interested in her take in this interview on moral fiction. She says fiction can be used as a “shoe horn” to discuss moral issues. And she mentions Dickens, whose fiction almost invariably included some sharply pointed social commentary.
John Truby, in his book The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller, gives the most cogent explanation I’ve read so far on the need for moral flaws in our characters. Psychological flaws are important, too, but the moral flaw is the one that drives our protagonist’s story.
For me, this explains why I adore Dickens, and why Picoult’s book left me feeling grubby, like I’d just watched one of those “ripped from the headlines” TV dramas. Dickens, while making clear the moral element of the social issues of the day, did so from within characters. Mr. Barnacle of the Circumlocution Office; Uriah Heep and Mr. Pumblechook; Miss Flyte as one of many brought to madness by the Court of Chancery.
In contrast, Picoult’s characters in My Sister’s Keeper merely felt plugged into a topical situation. Of themselves, they didn’t seem to have much moral depth one way or the other. Yet Picoult’s thousands of fans clearly found this book satisfying, perhaps because it dares to grapple with a “what would you do?” issue.
Truby’s insistence on the moral flaws in our characters is, I think, vital. I read a revision of a friend’s manuscript for my critique group last week, and he had, among other improvements, given his protagonist more defined and serious moral failings.
Doing this made the protagonist far more sympathetic than he had been in the previous draft. I care more about this protagonist now because, though I’ve always seen his good qualities, I now see his weaknesses, the things that could make him fail. He’s in greater peril, so I’m in greater doubt about his future. Which makes me want to keep reading.