Analyze Rosicky in Carter's story, "Neighbor Rosicky," with reference to preferences and choices and to whether he is a realistic character.

In Carter's "Neighbor Rosicky," Anton Rosicky is a
Czechoslovakian immigrant to the United States who gave up tailoring and turned his hand
to farming. This is a period story, taking place in the early twentieth century, when
"picture shows" and horse drawn wagons shared the same world
stage.

Rosicky immigrated first to London, then to New
York, then to his own farmland. While in the cities, he learned his trade but also felt
the loneliness of the isolation a big city imposes upon inhabitants because of the
numbers of people who, though crammed together, never have a natural opportunity for
getting to know each other. In the cities, he learned that the
teeming hordes of people held "depraved, poisonous species of men." Rather than joining
in with the "terrible faces in the ... streets," Rosicky's innate good nature, his
"contented disposition and reflective [thoughtful] quality," influenced his decisions
and he stayed away from the terrible sides of city
life.

When he read that farmland
could be had at low prices, he took his savings and turned to the land so as to leave
the streets of the cities behind him. He had past the height of his youth when he bought
land and married Mary, who bore strong children with his own good disposition.
He conducted his life and guided his home on the principal of
knowing a thing's true importance; speaking gently; behaving kindly and agreeably; and
helping others to find their
happiness:

readability="6">

"Polly ain't lookin' so good. I don't like to see
nobody lookin' sad. It comes hard fur a town girl to be a farmer's wife." ... He guessed
she needed
jollying.

It
is Rosicky's good disposition that enables him to bear the bad news about his heart with
equanimity. On the drive homeward, he stops at the graveyard
and notes that, at night, it had a wonderful view of the star laden sky. He also notes
how near it is to him farm and how comforting it would be to lay to rest at the edge of
his very own cornfield. Rosicky can see the natural progression
to life, like a planting and a harvesting; he can take comfort in the home and family he
has built and guided; and he can see the value of changes in life,
as was illustrated by his move to country life and now by his
choice to heed the doctor's advice and work in the house for the
winter:

readability="8">

[Across] the cornstalks his own roof and windmill
looked so good to him that he promised himself to mind the Doctor and take care of
himself. He was awful fond of his place, .... He wasn't anxious to leave
it.

His
preferences fit in with his innate disposition and
compliment that deposition. His choices are rational and
aim at the increase of happiness and benefit, whether for himself (obeying the doctor)
or for his family (Saturday night car for Polly). In these lights, Rosicky is presented
as a realistic character, one who is at peace with himself
and one whose innate disposition saved him a lot of trouble. There are people who truly
have such dispositions and who truly make decisions about life partners that lead to
accord and harmony, like that between Anton and Mary, instead of discord and
quarrelling. He is also a realistic character because his
actions and psychological development [e.g., how he feels (peaceful), what he thinks
(that Polly needs some "jollying")] accord with his disposition and temperament as
defined by the story.