I find this piece very helpful for reference in our next assignment, as it follows a similar structure. It begins describing a setting and this particular setting does its part to characterizes some of the players, namely Ta-nien. When the dialogue is introduced these indirect descriptive characterizations are challenged by more direct characterization by way of the players' interactions with one another. Ta-nien becomes less grounded to the audience when we learn more about him than his rigorous morning routine and compare these new ideas, of having an income from a fish pond, with those we previously held.
Additionally, we have more than one interaction to view him in, and therefore more than one lens. We can see him through the eyes of his irritated wife, his friend the Sage, and his son. All of these work to give us a better rounded idea of who Ta-nien is without devoting three dull paragraphs of analysis to him.
It also lets the reader interpret the evidence given to them, allowing them to have agency in their understanding of the story, rather than forcing the character down their throats in black and white.
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