I want to know what comes to mind when you think of stories you’ve read that exhibit that greatest character development? For me it’s easy to think of movies that fit this description, but I think it’s more difficult to display this in a novel.
I’ll start by saying Amir’s development in The Kite Runner is great. He learns how to take accountability and that even though you can’t undo your mistakes, you can direct your life in a proper way moving forward and live in a way that brings honor to those who have helped you on your journey.
On another note, Ahab’s slow spiral into insanity throughout Moby-Dick is something I always find very compelling. We don’t meet him until about 20% into the book, and at first he’s very stoic and mysterious, but as the story progresses he moves into the spotlight and drops some of the best philosophy in the book.
Marcus’ development in The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff.
I’m about halfway through Steinbeck’s East of Eden, and what stands out to me is that most characters are introduced in an almost archetypal way - here is the homely farmer, here is the rich do-nothing, here is the Asian servant - and yet each character acts in a way which is entirely contrary to my preconceived notions of what their arc would be, and yet feels more true to their character than anything I could envision.
War and peace for pretty much every charter, but especially Pierre.
A few characters from Stephen King’s The Stand, but for me the change in Larry Underwood is the most memorable.
The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s greatest invention were his characters, in my opinion.
The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander - Taran’s arc is incredible. It’s echoed in Simon’s arc in Tad Williams’s Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn
Anything by George Eliot.
Shantaram by far! Story of a man living to the best of his abilities and surviving in the slums of India while on the run
Soames Forsyte in The Forsyte Chronicles. Over 1000+ pages (if you read all six books) spent with someone who does an awful thing, but you come to understand him so completely that you feel like he’s a real human being in all his flaws. His tragedy is that he’s impossible to love. And watching him change when his daughter is born and try desperately to keep the retribution from his actions from falling on her… it’s such a small human thing and yet it feels as important as any quest or sacrifice in more epic literature.