Does character develop over time? In novels, of course it does: otherwise there wouldn't be much of a story. But in life? I sometimes wonder. Our attitudes and opinions change, we develop new habits and eccentricities; but that's something different, more like decoration. Perhaps character resembles intelligence (you're the most intelligent in your life when you are in your teens), except that character peeks a little later: between twenty and thirty say. And after that, we're just stuck with what we've got. We're on our own. If so that would explain a lot of lives, wouldn't it? And also- if this isn't too grand a word- our tragedy.
