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Q&A What tense do I use when talking about a character that has died?

When analysing a book and speaking of a character that dies, do you still you present tense as you are still analysing a book? If I were to make up a quick example: "Despite Anna's death, the plot...

2 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by System‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T07:28:12Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/31835
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T07:28:12Z (over 4 years ago)
When analysing a book and speaking of a character that dies, do you still you present tense as you are still analysing a book? If I were to make up a quick example:

"Despite Anna's death, the plot continues. [...] Riley says Anna wanted to die, but how does he know? Anna (was/is) a beautiful girl with a smile on her face everyday, she never (says/said) anything to him about death but of the wonders of life and nature. Her smile (was/is) Riley's favourite thing about her, yet he now reveals he knew the smile was fake."

It makes sense to use past tense but I have been told over and over to never use past tense when analysing a story. Thoughts?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-12-06T00:08:12Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 5