Citations
Amyx, Scott. Strive : How Doing the Things Most Uncomfortable Leads to Success, John Wiley
& Sons, Incorporated, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central,
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csu/detail.action?docID=5317907.
Baltzly, Dirk, "Stoicism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2019 Edition),Edward N. Zalta (ed.),
https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/stoicism/.
Baltzly’s piece allowed me an in-depth view of Stoicism. In it, they go over how the philosophy impacts, logic, and ethics of Stoicism. By also including the historical evolution of Stoicism, it allows me to better understand Stoicism’s origination and therefore find ways it can be applicable to the current times. Ultimately, Baltzly’s work provides a thorough examination of Stoicism that became useful for quickly grasping the concept to its fullest extent.
For Inej, considering the traumas and intense atmosphere of the Six of Crows duology, Stoicism showed the closest accuracy to Inej’s philosophy. And as I was using Stoicism alongside Epicureanism, it was great to see that, “the Stoics, like the Epicureans, make God a corporeal entity…” (Baltzly). Inej is devotional to her religion so to find a philosophy that accommodates that alongside her external environment provided me with confirmation that this was the right route to take in creating her philosophy. And due to Inej’s tenacity and devotion, to find that the Stoics believed philosophy to be a way of life, not just a pastime or body of knowledge (Baltzly), proved that they too held very passionate beliefs similar to hers.
Black, Jessica E., et al. “Who Can Resist a Villain? Morality, Machiavellianism, Imaginative Resistance and Liking for
Dark Fictional Characters.” Poetics (Amsterdam), vol. 74, Elsevier B. V, 2019, p. 101344–,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2018.12.005.
In this article, the authors investigate the reasons behind an audience’s fascination with the dark, morally gray characters in fiction using three separate studies. Their focus is on analyzing the audience’s intrigue regarding characters that violate the moral norms of society. As relatively few villains are ever truly evil, nor is every hero every truly good, two theories emerged. First, the degree of likability is correlated to one’s individual morality, and second, it is correlated to the reader’s ability to “suspend real world morality when engaging with fiction” (p. 3). From all three studies, moral purity and imaginative resistance were found to play a key factor towards the audience’s view of traditionally antagonistic characters.
Crucial to note was the lack of dark characters provided that were of any gender aside from male, as well as the skewed populations of each study. However, the concepts of imaginative resistance and moral purity were still valid to my work as they provide an idea of the reader’s mental heuristics. Inej Ghafa is a feared member of a notorious gang in Ketterdam, often partaking in heists that cause her to have dissonance with her religion and morality. Though her actions were with good intent, the actions themselves may hinder an audience from fully accepting her as a philosophical symbol unless these ideas of imaginative resistance and moral purity were used in my project.
Grizzard, Matthew, et al. “The Gordian Knot of Disposition Theory: Character Morality and Liking.” Journal of Media
Psychology, vol. 32, no. 2, Hogrefe Publishing, 2020, pp. 100–05, https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000257.
Grizzard and company focus their research on identifying just how much a character’s likability can be independent from morality. The study uses disposition and character type to assess what audiences find to be heroic values or villainous characteristics. Findings show that one’s likability is greatly correlated to one’s morals as decided by the audience and their own beliefs of right and wrong. Morally ambiguous characters prove more nuanced in this conclusion, according to Grizzard.
Seeing a study like this that confirms the way morally ambiguous characters still manage to baffle the minds of the readers. This study found that, “ADT (Zillmann, 2000) suggests they are inextricably linked, whereas researchers studying MACs have suggested that it should be possible to create independence between them (see Shafer & Raney, 2012)” (p. 100). What was found only proves that there is no assured calculation for making even the most precocious characters likeable if they do not have some connection to the reader.
Hepola, Allison Jill. “The Reality of Fictional Characters and the Cognitive Value of Literature:
Some Surprising Insights from Philosophy.” Expositions, vol. 8.2, 2014, pp. 79–89.,
https://expositions.journals.villanova.edu/article/view/1840/1684.
Hepola’s article, through a contextual analysis, revolves around the impact literature has on individual philosophy and worldview through two lenses, cognitivism and fictional realism. The author argues that much of the reason why we value fictional works like Shakespeare or Dostoevsky is because, “these texts provide us with more than simply interesting characters and entertaining plotlines; these texts are believed to be sources of profound insights into the human condition” (p. 79). They analyze where these two theories stand in regard to fictional works and the characters which we tend to align ourselves with, proving that cognitivism and fictional realism are incompatible (p. 86) because fictional realism keeps the realism portion solely to the story and not to any real-world implications.
Where cognitivism claims that we learn about aspects of the world through characters, fictional realism’s “according to the story” modifier makes it so “we can learn nothing profound about the real world and the real human condition from reading works of fictional literature” (p.86). By learning of cognitivism and fictional realism, it better prepares me for my argument as I’ve been made aware of possible standpoints my audience could have. For my website, I plan to utilize these philosophical points to stress why a fictional character’s philosophy can be applied to the real world and why it makes it that much more important.
Keus, Kelly, and Roxanne Harde. “‘She Wished Someone Would Help Them’: PTSD and Empathy in the Six of Crows
Duology.” Children’s Literature in Education, vol. 53, no. 1, Springer Netherlands, 2021, pp. 130–46,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-021-09441-0.
Keus and Harde analyze Leigh Bardugo, the author of the “Shadow and Bone” trilogy, “Six of Crows” duology, and “King of Scars” duology, and how she accurately portrays PTSD for young adult characters. Through Theory of Mind, transportation, cognitive criticism, and imaginative resistance, they analyze how the “Six of Crows” duology’s character portrayals provide the audience a chance to practice understanding and empathy of those with mental illness. In young adult literature, mental illness is often stigmatized as it is in the real world, yet “[a]n increasing number of researchers in the sciences and social sciences are promoting fiction as a pathway for positive change” (p. 143). Bardugo shows how young characters with trauma go against stereotypes and thereby force readers to rewire their own implicit beliefs.
As the focus character for my philosophy is Inej Ghafa, a lead character in the “Six of Crows” duology, this article was vital to my research. It details the way she handles her trauma in ways that differ with her peers and shows her ability to rise above the things haunting her in a positive manner. Dealing with both light and dark aspects of herself, Inej is in flux throughout the novel as is most any human in the real-world at any given time. In that way, she is a profound example to use in my project as she is realistic and therefore an ideal image to follow.
Konstan, David, “Epicurus”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.),
https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/epicurus/.
Like Baltzly’s piece, Konstan’s work on Epicureanism provided me insights as a relative newcomer to the philosophy. While Inej does heavily track alongside the ideas of Stoicism, there are aspects to her mindset that shows a more Epicurean view. Konstan’s piece allowed me to fully understand what was behind the old saying of, “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we may die.”
Inej is not an optimist by any means but she does have hopes that her friends have found endearing, inspiring, and often times shocking. For Inej, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Especially because of her religion, Inej acts as a moral compass for the group, often striking upon the same ideals Epicurus had. “According to Epicurus (LM 132, KD 5), someone who is incapable of living prudently, honorably, and justly cannot live pleasurably, and vice versa” (Konstan). Analyzing Inej’s life and development with this in mind helped to produce a more concise focus and understanding of her tenents, Love and Dreams.
Lambert, Kaylee. Creating a Place for Monstrosity: The Forced Liminality and Limited Mobility
of Codified Anxiety in Leigh Bardugo’s King of Scars. Diss. Eastern Kentucky
University, 2020.
Lambert uses Leigh Bardugo’s character Nikolai Lantsov from the “Shadow and Bone” trilogy and “King of Scars” duology to analyze the way young adult literature addresses the needs of adolescents. Through psychoanalytic and place theories, she identifies the metaphor of physical transformation into a monster being related to his anxiety and depression and criticizes how the “half-human/half-monster identity roots him in a liminal space, which is reinforced and propagated by the people around him” (p. iv). Going through the “King of Scars” plotline, Lambert shows how Nikolai’s internalized anxieties lead to his battle with his physical monstrosity and the dynamics of power in relation to what it teaches young readers.
Leigh Bardugo often showcases moral ambiguity throughout her novels, especially with the war taking place in “King of Scars.” Though having a small role in the series, Inej Ghafa makes an appearance to which Nikolai Lantsov and others find beneficial as they view her development from gang member to sea-faring hero against slavers. Just as Nikolai must become both man and monster, Inej learns to delve into the role of both gang member and purveyor of justice. By analyzing characters like Nikolia in this article, it allows me to better analyze Inej and her impact on those within the Grishaverse also struggling to accept their past and present to find a favorable future.
PLANTINGA, CARL. “I Followed the Rules, and They All Loved You More’: Moral Judgement and Attitudes Toward
Fictional Characters in Film.” Midwest Studies in Philosophy, vol. 34, no. 1, Blackwell Publishing Inc, 2010, pp. 34–51, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.14754975.2010.002.04.x.
Plantinga studies the moral allegiance audiences hold towards characters, specifically within film, and how morality may not be the sole indicator of character alignment. Filmmakers have the capability to change spectator allegiance through the way they portray the narrative as sympathetic or distant from the main characters.
Notably, Plantinga found that “[m]oreover, strong allegiances with characters, once established, become automatic and altered only by a dramatic turn of events” (p. 35). With this in mind, I’ve been able to identify moments where the audience may identify with Inej and thereby promote strong allegiance to her character despite times where her actions could be considered morally unfavorable. The study proved beneficial in identifying the mechanisms behind a spectator’s mind when witnessing a character’s arc and thereby has aided me in synthesizing whether or not Inej and her philosophy could withstand scrutiny.
SANKOWSKI, E. “Blame, Fictional Characters, and Morality.” The Journal of Aesthetic Education, vol. 22, no. 3, University of Illinois Press, 1988, pp. 49-61, https://doi.org/10.2307/3333050.
Sankowski’s paper is geared towards identifying philosophical beliefs in regards to blame in fictional settings. There are worries among philosophers with how one’s attitudes can be used irregardless of whether a situation is fictional or real. Blame can be found attached to characters but we often find ourselves vividly aware of “oneself as a nonfictional person reacting to a fictional character” (p. 53). Because of this, fictional stories involving right and wrong and who’s to blame are often stories taught both to children and adults to learn from these “fake” people and apply said lessons to one’s life.
Noting these ideas presented by Sankowski will allow me to assess how blame will fit with Inej. With someone so nuanced, finding blame will become difficult for the audience to deny Inej as a worthy philosophical figure. Though I could only glean so much from the article, what I did manage to note has helped me better analyze just why audiences seek characters who may not be entirely stellar or wholly good.
Sophia, Gissane. “Character Deep Dive: Inej Ghafa.” Marvelous Geeks Media, 23 April 2021,
https://marvelousgeeksmedia.com/2021/04/23/character-deep-dive-inej-ghafa/.
Subba, Desh. Philosophy of Fearism: Life Is Conducted, Directed and Controlled by the Fear. United Kingdom, Xlibris
AU, 2014.
Subba’s book was critical for my tenent of Fear. What happens when life is dictated by fear, how we struggle with it, and the sheer scope of it all were just three chapters provided by Subba. These allowed me to explore how we as humans react to fear. Immediately, when the introduction began with the ideas that we must regard fear as a beauty in it’s own right (13), I knew I’d found the right book. My focus is on showing how Inej utilizes her fear rather than viewing it as wholly an enemy.
As Shubba wrote their book, this idea was heavily invested within the pages. I used this book to ensure that my idea of fear being an ally rather than an enemy could hold up to scrutiny. Shubba goes into conversations regarding how different philosophers view fear, how everyday citizens do, and thereby provided me with backings for my argument. Inej is someone who has considerable reasons to let fear rule her life but Shubba’s work provides deeper explanations to why she is able to rise above these worries.