In her essay “writing short stories” flannery o’connor says this about characterization: ”you can’t cut characters off from their society and say much about them as individuals.” “you can’t say anything meaningful about the mystery of personality unless you put that personality in a believable and significant social context.”
consider the quotations above. then pick a story from semester a and evaluate how the social context and the characters work together not only to provide a vivid setting, but also to explain and develop the characters' thoughts, words and actions.