ABSTRACT
None of these assumptions is accepted in the masterpieces of fiction we are dealing with here. Purposes emerge from the indeterminate mist of passions and desires through a complex process. The emergence of a dominant purpose or set of purposes that will direct choice and action is a remarkable event in each individual experience, and the evolutionary process out of which purposes are formed, or fail to be formed, is an essential part of the development of the characters in the stories. Purposes and choices relate in intricate nexuses since the conscious evaluation of relevant choices is time-consuming, and exposed to misrepresentation and failure in identifying effective options. Evaluation may change in time, with the acquisition of new experience or new human relationships. Purposes and choices, being complex processes, often involve open conflicts among hierarchies of conscious purposes, or painful contrasts between capabilities and aims, entrenched habits and desired results. Contrasting impulses may clash with conscious choice and well-planned designs. In many situations a possible schizophrenia emerges between preferred choice and actual action. As both Bachtin and Ricoeur firmly underlined, in fiction action dominates. Personalities are defined by their actions, and stories are evolving actions. Far from being the obedient servants of choices, actions are the true and decisive events in the narration.
