Character Development in Bronx

         Throughout the book, Bronx Masquerade, Nikki Grimes develops the changing of Devon Hope. In the beginning of this book, after Diondra's part it says, "Even so, I'd rather the brothers not catch me with my head in a book." This quote is saying that Devon doesn't want people to know all of his true interests. He thinks he has to act a certain way for people to accept him. After someone catches him reading a poetry book he says, "When I get on the bus with the rest of the guys, I'm taking a copy of Baraka's book with me to read, and I'm gonna make sure everybody sees it. Especially
Mike." This quote shows that Devon is starting to be proud of who he is, he is accepting that he isn't who everyone thinks he is. If it were earlier in the book Devon would have not been brave enough to expose who he is. This is how Nikki Grimes develops the changing of Devon Hope.

         Plot and setting influence each other and the different elements of a story in multiple ways. Setting affects the characters because they could have lived differently based on what the time period was, who they surrounded themselves with, and what kind of problems mainly occurred there. For example in Bronx Masquerade, the character Wesley is affected by his setting. He lives in the bad part of Bronx, NY and he fears for his life. In his poetry he talks about how he is afraid he will get killed in his neighborhood. The setting also affects the conflicts because different areas might have different issues that tend to originate there. An example of this in Bronx Masquerade, is that the all the main characters live in a predominately black neighborhood. This means that there is a lot of racism towards whites there. People dislike white people even if they don't know them. Also some things might be a big problem for some people in different time periods. The plot affects the setting because if the plot changes then the setting could change too. For example, if the plot makes people move to a different country then the setting just changed because of the plot. In the book, the character Leslie Lucas is an example of this. She moved to a different neighborhood and now her main conflict is loneliness. Before she moved she wasn't lonely, but now she is. The plot also affects the characters because as the plot unfolds the characters can change. For example, throughout the book Bronx Masquerade the story starts to display the characters changes, like Devon Hope.

        Along with plot and setting, the conflicts and characters influence each other and the different elements of a story in numerous ways. The conflicts influences the characters because if a huge problem occurs then the characters can be negatively or positively affected. The conflicts can make the characters look different and feel different. A character who shows this is Amy Moscowitz. Her mother died and her and her father are negatively affected by it. Amy's father doesn't show any emotion towards her and thinks that she doesn't have any feelings. Conflict influence settings because if a huge war occurs, for example, then the setting could become more rugged and dangerous. It could change the entire setting.