No one can deny that they love drama. Stories would not be nearly as exciting without a lick of excitement. Typically in dramatic stories, violence occurs. According to Thomas C. Foster, there are two types of violence in literature: "...the specific injury that authors cause characters to visit on one another or on themselves, and the narrative violence that causes characters harm in general." (Foster, pg. 89) Basically, in stories, there is violence that occurs between the characters, that the characters control, mostly used for dramatic effect. Then there is violence that the author describes, which is used for plot advancement.
An example of the first kind of violence is present in the new and popular novel, Divergent, by Veronica Roth. An uprising occurs between the "factions," the different communities in this novel, which includes a large battle with hundreds of people being killed in various violent ways. The main protagonist, Tris, has to shoot a dear friend of hers to prevent herself from being killed. This is character-on-character violence that is controlled by Tris and her friend, Will, mostly used for dramatic effect.
The second kind of violence is found in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Lennie is one of the main characters that struggles with mental disability, which causes him to be unintentionally violent towards living things. He has a habit of snapping the necks of things he's trying to care for, such as a mouse, a puppy, and a beautiful woman. Lennie cannot control his actions and his violent activity is a very large part in the plot, thus making it necessary for plot advancement.
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