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Stock Character: A
fictional character based on a common literary or social stereotype. Such
characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality,
manner of speech, and other characteristics and are a key element in genre
fiction, supplying relationships and interactions that people familiar with the
genre will recognize at once. Stock characters are ready targets for parody,
exaggerating the stereotypes associated with them.
So, the 'stock' criminal
may be dim and easily apprehended, the 'stock' nurse may be attractive and
sexy, the 'stock' policeman not very bright and prone to uttering meaningless
jargon, the 'stock' detective able and perceptive but not successful with
women. You get the picture.
More honest and perceptive
writers tend to avoid the stock character and portray people who appear real
instead.
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