Empathic Sadism: How Readers Get Implicated

Abstract

A good book draws you in, makes you feel involved in the story, makes you care about the characters. It’s a sign of a successful story when the struggles of the characters affect you—but do readers always feel the same emotions as the characters they are reading about? Of course not. For one thing, readers often know more or less than characters. They see the danger lurking while the character is still perfectly happy, or they are in the dark about a characters happy thoughts. Readers will react to the behavior of the character.