In "Veronica" how does the writer present the character of Veronica?

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How does the writer present the character of Veronica?

In a country of war and village life, Veronica is shown to be grateful yet passive by describing what she is given and has. She is also shown to be strong because she accepts what she has and doesn’t complain, this strength is then mentioned again to convey her loyalty to family and village traditions. Although she is shown to be strong, we learn that she does not have any ambitions or self-respect.

Veronica’s character is first viewed as a passive character who accepts what is done to her as it is her ‘fate’. This then acts as a cause or a reason for her not to stand up for herself; another reason for her acceptance and passive aspect on her life would be the thought that her father has the authority to do this to her as he is ‘the man of the house.’ An example of this is that ‘her father was a brute, and her mother was weak.” Yet Veronica still took “a lot of responsibility” to take her mother’s place. This then shows that Veronica is being strong for others as she protects her siblings and mothers from being beaten as well as doing all the house work in place of her mother; accepting what is dealt to her and what is given to her and not asking for more as proven line 101-103 when it is shown that shoe doesn’t envy Okeke going to study and that she is being optimistic. Although she is still being passive to herself as she takes in her father’s beating and then goes on to do all the house work as well as take care of her siblings.

Another example of Veronica’s passive character is when a man she saved and does not know well asks her marriage and she accepts easily.  The fact that she does not know him is that “he is not” of their “people” and that “he showed up here” when he was “half dead.” Yet due to her sense responsibility “looked after him and when he got better he asked me to marry him.” This matter of fact tone and the short explanation which is conveyed in the sentence structure hint that it is not such a great deal to her if she marries him or not. Also it again proves her acceptance towards her fate as she gladly married a man who came to her by chance.

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We also learn that Veronica is a strong character from the same aforementioned quote, “a lot of responsibility for bringing up the other children had fallen on her”. This quote shows how strong she is as she is able to withstand this metaphorical weight that “had fallen on her”.

We also learn that she does not care for them out of fear of her father beating her, instead she is strong and lives through the beating and possibly cares for her siblings in order to protect them from the same situation. This is then justified as even after her ...

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