The warning against treating characters as if they were real stands as a gatekeeper to the academic discipline of literary criticism. Students who can’t abide by the rule will get bad grades. The professor will sigh and conclude that they just don’t have what it takes to become decent literary critics. Yet the same students may love reading, really get into the novels we assign, and be both confused and depressed to learn that to discuss the problems of Elizabeth Bennet as if she were their friend is to fail in some fundamental way. – The Point