Character Development is the process of creating a believable character in fiction by giving the character depth and personality. Character development is the process and execution of creating a fully rounded, complex, and lifelike character within your fictional writing with the purpose of making readers invested in them and their life or journey.
o Bought and enslaved on D’Ortega’s Maryland plantation
o Ordered to be gang raped by D’Ortega and later sexually abused by him as well
o Has two children due to these rapes: Florens and her brother
o Jacob arrives to the farm and she begs him to take Florens to keep her from the same suffering fate.
“It was not a miracle. Bestowed by God. It was a mercy. Offered by a human. I stayed on my knees. In the dust where my heart will remain each night and every day until you understand what I know and long to tell you: to be given dominion over another is a hard thing; to wrest dominion over another is a wrong thing; to give dominion of yourself to another is a wicked thing” (167).
Florens’ mother’s character developed as you read because in the beginning you see it as giving up her daughter but further into the story you see she only did what any mother would have done to save her daughter from suffering.
o Daughter Jane’s mother
o Helps Florens when she is lost on her way to find the Blacksmith, sheltering her.
o Defends Florens from other villagers in a religious sect who believed she was a demon.
Florens overhears Daughter Jane ask Widow Ealing how she can prove she is not a demon, and then hears the Widow respond that “they” will decide. They continue to talk about demons, God, the devil, and how Daughter Jane will be judged.