‘Did he ever think again?’: Characters, emotions and the theory of mind

All stories, no matter how simple, depend on what someone thinks. Bruner defines narrative as dealing with ‘the vicissitudes of human intention’ (1986: 16). It is the desires and intentions of fictional characters that drive the story. Eco goes further, saying that without misunderstandings on someone’s part there can be no story; it is someone’s mistaken belief, ‘various imaginary courses of events’ that the characters set up, which drive the plot (1981: 242).