Explain the Relationship Between Setting and Character - AP English Literature and Composition

SECTION 1

Historical Context & Motivation

The idea that a character's environment profoundly shapes identity and action is not merely a modern critical insight—it is a principle that has evolved across centuries of literary tradition. In the earliest English novels, setting functioned largely as a static backdrop, a painted curtain behind the actors. Yet as narrative art matured, writers and critics increasingly recognized that setting—the temporal, geographical, social, and atmospheric conditions of a narrative—operates as an active force, one that constrains choices, catalyzes conflict, and reveals the psychological interiority of characters. Understanding this reciprocal relationship is essential for AP Literature analysis because the exam consistently asks students to examine how authors deploy the elements of fiction in concert rather than in isolation.

1740s • Rise of the Realist Novel

Samuel Richardson's Pamela and Henry Fielding's Tom Jones begin anchoring characters in socially specific environments, linking manners and morality to place.

1840s • Gothic & Romantic Settings as Psychology

Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights use moors and manor houses as externalizations of characters' inner turmoil, establishing setting as a mirror for the psyche.

1880s • Naturalism & Environmental Determinism

Émile Zola and later American naturalists like Stephen Crane argue that environment literally determines character, stripping away Romantic idealism and placing individuals at the mercy of social and physical forces.

1920s • Modernist Symbolic Landscapes

F. Scott Fitzgerald's Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby and Virginia Woolf's interior consciousness in Mrs Dalloway transform setting into a web of symbolic meaning inseparable from characterization.

1990s–Present • Postcolonial & Diasporic Settings

Writers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Jhumpa Lahiri foreground the experience of displacement, showing how navigating between cultural settings fragments and reconstitutes identity.

This literary evolution raises a central analytical question: How does the specific relationship between where a character exists and who that character becomes generate meaning in a longer work of fiction or drama? The AP Literature exam expects you not merely to identify setting and character as separate elements, but to articulate the dynamic interplay between them—showing how place, time, and atmosphere function as engines of characterization, conflict, and thematic development.

SECTION 2

Core Principles & Definitions

Before examining the relationship between setting and character in practice, it is essential to establish a precise vocabulary for the ways these elements interact. The term setting encompasses more than geography—it includes historical period, social milieu, cultural norms, and even the atmospheric conditions that pervade a scene. Likewise, character is not merely a list of traits but a dynamic construct shaped by desires, limitations, and the pressures of the narrative world. The following core principles describe the primary modes through which setting and character intersect in longer fiction and drama.

Setting as Constraint

The environment imposes material, social, or moral limitations on what a character can do or become. A character's response to these constraints—compliance, resistance, subversion—reveals essential aspects of identity and generates conflict.

Setting as Reflection

Authors align elements of the physical or atmospheric setting with a character's internal state. A bleak landscape may mirror grief; a claustrophobic room may externalize psychological entrapment. This technique is sometimes called the pathetic fallacy or objective correlative.

Setting as Catalyst

A change in setting—relocation, displacement, arrival—forces characters to adapt, making latent traits visible. The journey narrative depends on this principle: new environments precipitate new selves.

Character as Creator of Setting

Characters do not merely inhabit spaces; they construct, modify, and interpret them. A character's perception of setting reveals bias, desire, and psychological state—reminding us that narrated setting is always mediated by consciousness.

Setting as Social Structure

In many longer works, setting encodes hierarchies of class, race, and gender. Characters are positioned within—and against—these structures, so that the social setting becomes a determinant of opportunity, self-understanding, and conflict.

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KEY TAKEAWAY

Think of setting and character as two musicians performing a duet rather than a soloist with accompaniment. In a great novel or play, neither merely 'supports' the other—each shapes the other's performance in real time. An analytical essay that treats them as independent elements is like reviewing a duet by discussing only the pianist. The AP exam rewards essays that demonstrate this reciprocal dynamic: how setting constrains and reveals character while character, in turn, imbues setting with meaning.

SECTION 3

Visual Explanation: The Setting–Character Feedback Loop

The relationship between setting and character is best understood as a feedback loop rather than a one-directional influence. The diagram below illustrates how the physical, temporal, social, and atmospheric dimensions of setting exert pressure on a character, who in turn perceives, interprets, and acts upon that setting—producing the narrative meaning that readers and exam scorers look for.

The cyan arrow (left to right) shows how the four dimensions of setting exert pressure on character; the violet arrow (right to left) shows how the character's consciousness reinterprets and acts upon the setting. Their convergence at the pink Meaning node represents the thematic insights, conflicts, and transformations that arise from this interplay—exactly what an AP essay should articulate.

Notice that neither box in the diagram is subordinate to the other. The four dimensions of setting—physical place, historical period, social milieu, and atmosphere—each exert distinct pressures on a character's desires, values, social position, and psychological state. Simultaneously, the character perceives, interprets, acts upon, and even transforms the setting. In strong literary analysis, you must trace both directions of this loop. For example, when analyzing Toni Morrison's Beloved, you would note that the setting of 124 Bluestone Road constrains Sethe through its haunted atmosphere (setting shapes character), while Sethe's traumatic memories actively project themselves onto the house, making it pulsate with the past (character shapes setting). The convergence of these forces generates the novel's central themes of memory, freedom, and the indelibility of historical violence.

SECTION 4

How Setting–Character Dynamics Work in Practice

Understanding the theoretical framework of the setting–character feedback loop is only a first step; the real analytical work involves tracing the specific literary techniques through which authors enact this relationship on the page. This section examines four primary mechanisms—each illustrated with canonical examples—that you can deploy in your AP essays to demonstrate sophisticated engagement with text.

Mechanism 1: Environmental Determinism & Constraint

When setting functions as constraint, the physical or social environment limits the available choices for a character, and the character's response to that limitation becomes the primary site of characterization. In Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles, the rigid Victorian class structure of rural Wessex constrains Tess's options so severely that her tragedy feels almost inevitable—yet her moral dignity in the face of that constraint is precisely what elevates her as a literary character. The AP reader will reward an essay that shows how constraint reveals character rather than merely suppressing it.

Mechanism 2: Pathetic Fallacy & Objective Correlative

John Ruskin's concept of the pathetic fallacy—attributing human emotions to the natural world—and T.S. Eliot's related notion of the objective correlative both describe the technique of using setting to externalize a character's inner state. In Shakespeare's King Lear, the storm on the heath is not merely weather; it is the visible manifestation of Lear's psychological disintegration. When you identify this technique in an essay, be precise: name the specific setting detail, connect it to the specific emotional or psychological state it externalizes, and explain how this fusion advances the work's broader thematic concerns.

Mechanism 3: Displacement & Transformation

A shift in setting often precipitates a transformation in character—or reveals tensions that were latent in the original environment. In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie Crawford's movement from Nanny's house to Logan Killicks's farm to Joe Starks's Eatonville to the muck of the Everglades with Tea Cake maps a trajectory of self-discovery. Each new setting strips away a layer of imposed identity and reveals a deeper authenticity. For your analysis, track how transitions between settings function as turning points in characterization.

Mechanism 4: Social Setting as Characterizing Force

Setting is never purely physical; it is saturated with social codes, expectations, and power dynamics. In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, the Loman household—cramped, mortgaged, encroached upon by apartment buildings—embodies the promises and failures of the American Dream. Willy Loman's character cannot be understood apart from the mid-twentieth-century capitalist milieu he inhabits: his delusions, his self-destructive work ethic, and his obsession with being 'well-liked' are all products of a social setting that equates personal worth with economic success. Analyzing the social dimension of setting is particularly important for the AP exam's open-response question, which often rewards thematic sophistication.

The four mechanisms (Constraint, Reflection, Displacement, and Social Force) converge into Analytical Convergence, where the interplay of setting and character produces the thematic meaning that should anchor your AP essay thesis.

SECTION 5

Types of Setting & Their Character Functions

Not all settings operate the same way, and recognizing the type of setting at work in a given passage is the first step toward articulating its function in relation to character. The table below classifies the major types of setting you will encounter in longer fiction and drama, identifies their primary function vis-à-vis character, and provides canonical examples for each. Use this taxonomy as a mental checklist when you encounter an unseen passage on the AP exam.

Type of Setting	Primary Character Function	Canonical Example
Physical / Geographic	Constrains or enables movement; creates isolation or community	The moors in Wuthering Heights; the river in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Temporal / Historical	Positions character within historical forces; creates period-specific moral dilemmas	Post–Civil War South in Beloved; the Roaring Twenties in The Great Gatsby
Social / Cultural	Encodes class, race, and gender hierarchies; defines what characters aspire to or rebel against	Maycomb in To Kill a Mockingbird; the plantation in Beloved
Atmospheric / Mood	Externalizes psychological state; creates dramatic irony when mood contradicts character emotion	The fog in Bleak House; the oppressive heat in A Streetcar Named Desire
Domestic / Intimate	Reveals private identity, family dynamics, hidden selves; contrasts public persona with private reality	The Bertha Mason attic in Jane Eyre; 124 Bluestone Road in Beloved

Classification of setting types and their character functions in longer fiction and drama

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AP EXAM TIP

On the prose analysis FRQ, the passage will always have a specific setting. Your first analytical move should be to classify the type of setting and then ask: What does this setting make possible or impossible for this character? This question immediately connects setting to character and positions you to write a thesis that addresses the prompt's demand for analysis of literary elements in relation to meaning.

SECTION 6

Worked Example: Analyzing Setting and Character in The Great Gatsby

Let us trace the setting–character relationship through a sustained example from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), focusing on Gatsby's mansion and its surrounding geography. This worked example models the kind of multi-step analytical process you would use in an AP essay.

Analyzing Gatsby's Mansion as Setting–Character Nexus

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Step 1 — Identify the Setting Details

Gatsby's mansion sits on West Egg, across the bay from the Buchanans' old-money East Egg. It is described as 'a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy,' newly built and lavishly decorated. The green light at the end of Daisy's dock is visible from Gatsby's lawn. The Valley of Ashes lies between West Egg and New York City.

Three spatial zones identified: West Egg (new money), East Egg (old money), Valley of Ashes (poverty).
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Step 2 — Classify the Setting Type

The setting operates on multiple levels simultaneously: it is a physical/geographic setting (the bay separating the Eggs), a social/cultural setting (the distinction between old and new money), and an atmospheric setting (the opulence of the parties, the desolation of the Valley of Ashes). Recognizing this layering allows for a richer analysis.

Layered setting: geographic + social + atmospheric.
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Step 3 — Trace Setting → Character

The geographic separation of East and West Egg constrains Gatsby: no matter how lavish his mansion, it is on the wrong side of the bay. This physical barrier externalizes the social barrier he can never fully cross. The setting thus constrains his identity—he can perform wealth but not inherit legitimacy. The green light, visible but unreachable, becomes the objective correlative for his longing.

Setting constrains and reflects Gatsby's aspirational identity and romantic longing.
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Step 4 — Trace Character → Setting

Gatsby has literally constructed his setting—his mansion, his parties, his curated persona—as an expression of his desire for Daisy. The mansion is not a home but a theatrical set designed to attract her attention. Through Nick's narration, we see that Gatsby imbues the setting with romantic significance (the green light is 'just' a dock light until Gatsby makes it a symbol). Character creates and transforms the meaning of setting.

Gatsby constructs his setting as a projection of desire; character creates meaning in setting.
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Step 5 — Articulate Thematic Meaning

The convergence of these dynamics generates the novel's central theme: the American Dream as a seductive but ultimately destructive illusion. The setting reveals that material success cannot overcome entrenched social structures (constraint), while Gatsby's romantic projection onto the landscape reveals the human capacity for self-delusion (reflection). An effective AP thesis might read: 'Through the geographic and social architecture of East and West Egg, Fitzgerald uses Gatsby's constructed environment to expose the impossibility of reinvention within a rigidly stratified society, thereby interrogating the foundational myth of American self-making.'

Thesis: Setting–character interplay produces a critique of the American Dream.

SECTION 7

Analytical Strengths, Common Pitfalls, and Comparisons

Students often have strong intuitions about setting and character but lose points on the AP exam because they fall into predictable analytical traps. The table below contrasts effective analytical moves with common pitfalls, giving you a concrete sense of what scorers reward and what they penalize.

Effective Analytical Move	Common Pitfall	Why It Matters for Scoring
Explains HOW setting shapes a specific character trait or decision	Merely describes the setting in detail without connecting it to character	AP rubric rewards analysis of literary elements 'in relation to meaning'—description alone earns minimal credit
Traces the bidirectional relationship (setting ↔ character)	Treats setting as a one-way influence on a passive character	Sophistication point (Row C on the AP rubric) rewards nuance and complexity
Uses specific textual evidence (quotation + page-level detail)	Makes general claims ('the dark setting shows he is sad') without evidence	Evidence row requires 'specific, relevant evidence' that is properly embedded
Connects setting–character analysis to a broader thematic claim	Provides close reading that never reaches a thesis-level claim	Thesis row requires a 'defensible interpretation' that addresses the prompt
Identifies literary techniques (pathetic fallacy, symbolism, juxtaposition) in the setting	Names techniques without explaining their effect on characterization	Commentary must explain the 'so what'—how the technique contributes to meaning

Effective moves vs. common pitfalls in setting–character analysis

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KEY TAKEAWAY

Think of an AP Literature essay as an act of engineering reverse analysis: you are disassembling a complex machine (the literary work) to show how its components (setting, character, diction, structure) work together to produce an effect (meaning). An essay that only catalogues parts without demonstrating their functional relationship is like an engineering report that lists components without explaining the mechanism. The AP rubric specifically rewards the causal link between literary element and thematic meaning—this is what distinguishes a 5 from a 3.

SECTION 8

Connection to Advanced Literary Theory

The setting–character relationship you have studied in this lesson is a foundational concept, but it connects directly to more advanced frameworks in literary criticism. Awareness of these connections can give your AP essays a layer of sophistication—particularly when aiming for the elusive Row C sophistication point—and prepare you for college-level literary study.

Foundational Concept	Advanced Critical Framework	Key Insight
Setting as social constraint	Marxist Criticism	Material conditions (economic setting) determine consciousness and class identity; characters are products of their economic environment
Setting as reflection of psyche	Psychoanalytic Criticism	Settings can symbolize unconscious states (the Gothic attic as repression, the wilderness as the id); character–setting fusion reveals the psychic landscape
Setting as cultural displacement	Postcolonial Criticism	Colonized spaces are contested—characters' identities are shaped by the power dynamics inscribed in geography; displacement produces hybrid identities
Social setting as gendered space	Feminist Criticism	Domestic settings confine female characters; movement between public and private spaces maps the negotiation of gender roles and agency
Character as creator of setting	Reader-Response / Narratology	Setting is always mediated by a narrator's or focalizer's consciousness; 'objective' setting does not exist in fiction—only interpreted setting

Connections between foundational setting–character analysis and advanced critical frameworks

You do not need to name these critical frameworks explicitly in an AP essay (and doing so is not required for the sophistication point). However, employing the thinking behind them—asking how economic conditions shape character, how gendered spaces limit agency, or how a narrator's focalization constructs setting—will deepen your analysis significantly. For instance, reading the confinement of Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre through a feminist lens reveals that the domestic setting of Thornfield Hall is not merely Gothic atmosphere but a mechanism of patriarchal control—an insight that adds genuine interpretive complexity to your essay.

SECTION 9

Practice Problems

Question 1: CONCEPTUAL

In Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, the wild Yorkshire moors surrounding the Earnshaw estate are frequently described in terms that parallel Heathcliff's emotional intensity—untamed, violent, and darkly beautiful. Which of the following best describes the primary function of this setting–character alignment?

A. The moors serve as a purely decorative backdrop that adds visual interest to the narrative without contributing to characterization.
B. The moors function as an objective correlative, externalizing Heathcliff's inner turbulence and rendering his psychological state visible through landscape.
C. The moors primarily establish the novel's historical period, helping readers understand the social customs of Victorian England.
D. The moors create dramatic irony by contrasting sharply with Heathcliff's calm and restrained personality throughout the novel.

Show answer (B)

B is correct. The alignment between the wild moors and Heathcliff's volatile nature is a classic example of setting as reflection—specifically, the objective correlative, in which external elements of setting externalize a character's interior state. A is incorrect because Brontë's moors are far from decorative—they are integral to characterization and theme. C is incorrect because while the novel has a historical context, the moors' primary function is psychological, not temporal. D is incorrect because Heathcliff is anything but calm and restrained; the moors mirror rather than contrast his personality.

Question 2: BASIC

A student writes the following thesis for a prose analysis essay: 'In this passage, the author uses a dark and gloomy setting to create a mood of sadness.' Which of the following revisions would most effectively strengthen this thesis by integrating setting–character analysis?

A. 'In this passage, the author uses a very dark and extremely gloomy setting to create an overwhelmingly powerful mood of deep sadness and despair.'
B. 'The author's use of setting, including dark imagery and gloomy descriptions, is an important literary technique.'
C. 'Through the decaying urban landscape that confines the protagonist, the author reveals the erosion of her idealism and conveys the broader theme that environments of neglect produce individuals who internalize that neglect.'
D. 'The setting in the passage is gloomy, which makes the character feel sad, showing that setting and character are related literary elements.'

Show answer (C)

C is correct. This revision specifies the type of setting (decaying urban landscape), names its function (confines the protagonist), traces its effect on character (erosion of idealism), and articulates a thematic claim (environments of neglect produce individuals who internalize neglect)—all elements the AP rubric rewards. A is incorrect because it merely adds intensifiers without improving analytical precision. B is incorrect because it identifies setting as 'an important literary technique' without explaining how it functions in relation to character or meaning. D is incorrect because it restates the obvious relationship without analysis, and it asserts that 'setting and character are related literary elements'—a truism rather than a defensible interpretation.

Question 3: INTERMEDIATE

3 pts

In Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois arrives in the cramped, run-down Kowalski apartment in the French Quarter of New Orleans. In a well-organized paragraph, explain how this specific setting functions in at least two distinct ways to develop Blanche's character. Reference specific details from the play.

Show answer

Rubric (3 points): Point 1 — First Setting Function (1 point): Identifies and explains one way the Kowalski apartment develops Blanche's character. For example: The cramped, transparent apartment (with its lack of doors and curtains) functions as a setting of constraint and exposure. Blanche, who depends on illusion, 'magic' rather than realism, and the kindness of strangers, is placed in an environment that strips away every tool of self-construction she possesses. The setting constrains her ability to maintain her performance of gentility, forcing the private self she has hidden to become visible. Point 2 — Second Setting Function (1 point): Identifies and explains a second, distinct way the setting develops character. For example: The Kowalski apartment also functions as a social setting that encodes class conflict. Blanche's Southern plantation background clashes with the working-class milieu of the French Quarter, and this social displacement catalyzes the central conflict with Stanley. The setting reveals Blanche's class anxiety and her desperate need to assert superiority in an environment that refuses to validate it. Point 3 — Specific Textual Evidence (1 point): Supports the analysis with specific details from the play—such as Blanche's horror at the apartment's conditions, her insistence on covering the bare lightbulb with a paper lantern, or the stage directions describing the setting's 'raffish charm' against Blanche's pretensions of elegance. Evidence must be embedded in the analysis rather than merely listed.

Question 4: APPLIED

4 pts

Many works of literature feature characters who are defined as much by the places they inhabit as by their actions or dialogue. Select a novel or play in which a character's identity is shaped by a specific setting, and write a thesis-driven analytical paragraph arguing how the interplay between setting and character contributes to the work's meaning as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

Show answer

Rubric (4 points): Point 1 — Defensible Thesis (1 point): The response presents a clear, defensible thesis that identifies a specific setting–character relationship and connects it to the work's meaning as a whole. The thesis must go beyond observation ('the setting affects the character') to interpretation ('the author uses X setting to reveal Y about the character, thereby conveying Z theme'). A strong example: 'In Morrison's Beloved, the haunted setting of 124 Bluestone Road functions as both a manifestation of Sethe's repressed trauma and a constraint that traps her in an eternal present, thereby illustrating the novel's argument that communal memory and love are required to move beyond the psychic damage of slavery.' Point 2 — Evidence and Commentary (1 point): The response provides specific, relevant evidence from the chosen work (quotation, paraphrase, or precise reference to scenes) and explains how that evidence supports the thesis. Commentary must demonstrate the causal link between setting detail and character revelation. Merely listing setting features without analytical connection does not earn this point. Point 3 — Line of Reasoning (1 point): The response demonstrates a coherent line of reasoning that connects the setting–character evidence to the broader thematic claim. The paragraph should move logically from textual detail to interpretive claim, not merely juxtapose observation and thesis. The bidirectional nature of the setting–character relationship (setting shapes character AND character shapes setting) should be evident. Point 4 — Sophistication (1 point): The response demonstrates sophistication through at least one of the following: exploring the complexity or tension within the setting–character relationship (e.g., a character who both is shaped by and resists the setting); situating the analysis within a broader literary context or critical framework; employing a style that is consistently vivid and persuasive; or acknowledging alternative interpretations of the setting–character dynamic.

Question 5: CRITICAL THINKING

6 pts

Some literary critics argue that in truly great fiction, setting does not merely influence character—the two become indistinguishable, so that a character's identity is the setting. Others maintain that the most compelling characters are those who resist or transcend their environments, asserting individuality against environmental pressure. Choose a novel or play you have studied and write a multi-paragraph essay that engages with this critical tension. In your essay, argue whether the protagonist's identity merges with the setting, transcends it, or exists in some more complex relationship with it. Support your argument with specific textual evidence and develop a nuanced thesis that addresses the work's meaning as a whole.

Show answer

Rubric (6 points): Point 1 — Thesis (0–1 point): Responds to the prompt with a defensible thesis that takes a clear position on the critical tension (merger, transcendence, or a more complex formulation) and connects the setting–character relationship to the work's meaning as a whole. A strong thesis will likely argue for the 'more complex relationship' rather than a simple either/or position. For example: 'In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Gatsby simultaneously merges with and transcends his manufactured setting of West Egg—his identity is indistinguishable from the spectacle he creates, yet his romantic imagination reaches beyond any material environment, suggesting that the American Dream is both an environmental product and a transcendent human impulse that outlives the settings designed to fulfill it.' Point 2 — Evidence (0–1 point): Provides specific, relevant evidence from the chosen text that supports the argument. Evidence should include quotations or precise references to scenes, descriptions, and dialogue that illustrate the setting–character relationship. At least two distinct pieces of evidence should be present, drawn from different parts of the work. Point 3 — Commentary on Evidence (0–2 points): Explains how the evidence supports the thesis, demonstrating the causal and interpretive connections between setting details and character development. 1 point for commentary that generally connects evidence to thesis; 2 points for commentary that consistently and persuasively explains how specific setting details function to shape, reflect, or fail to contain the character's identity, with attention to the bidirectional relationship. Point 4 — Line of Reasoning / Organization (0–1 point): The essay develops a coherent, sustained line of reasoning across multiple paragraphs, building from close reading to thematic claim. Each paragraph advances the argument rather than repeating it. Effective transitions connect analytical points to one another and to the overarching thesis. Point 5 — Sophistication (0–1 point): The response demonstrates sophistication of thought or develops a complex literary argument. This may be achieved by: engaging with the critical tension posed in the prompt rather than ignoring one side; exploring contradictions or tensions within the work itself; placing the analysis within a broader literary, historical, or theoretical context; accounting for alternative readings; or employing a consistently vivid, precise, and persuasive prose style. The sophistication must be sustained across the essay, not limited to a single sentence.

SUMMARY

Summary: Setting and Character in Longer Fiction and Drama

Summary

The relationship between setting and character in longer fiction and drama is a bidirectional feedback loop: setting shapes character through constraint, reflection, displacement, and social force, while character simultaneously perceives, interprets, acts upon, and transforms the setting. Understanding and articulating this reciprocal dynamic—rather than treating setting as a passive backdrop—is the analytical skill that distinguishes strong AP Literature essays. The pathetic fallacy and objective correlative are key techniques through which authors fuse external environment with internal psychology.

On the AP exam, always classify the type of setting (physical, temporal, social, atmospheric, domestic) before analyzing its function. Use specific textual evidence to trace how setting details shape character traits and decisions, then connect your analysis to a thematic claim about the work's meaning as a whole. Remember: the highest-scoring essays demonstrate the causal link between literary technique and interpretive meaning—showing not just what the setting is, but how it makes the character who they are.