network model – First Semester by Rachel B. Glaser and John Maradik

For this assignment, I selected the short story First Semester Rachel B. Glasser and John Maradik from Granta Magazine, edition 136 – Legacies of Love, published October 31, 2016.

The story revolves around the experiences of a group of young college students living away from home for the first time at an eastern university. As the primary protagonist Sarah begins the process of learning a new form of social navigation, her circle of friends and acquaintances morphs and expands to include a sexual and social rival knows as Opposite Worlds Girl.

To create a model of the social network, I created an edge list to include every character named, addressed and described by the authors.  This grew to include a total of 16 characters, who comprised the nodes of the list. I created links between any character that shared space, conversation or interaction with another.  I weighted the connections on a scale from 1 to 3 based upon the relative impact of one character’s role upon the other.

For example – Sarah and the Turtle – Sarah takes the Turtle in as a form of emotional recompense for her lack of ability to connect with David. In her care the Turtle dies.  The weight of this connection is a 3.

Sarah and Boy@Party1 – the boy is attracted to Sarah but nothing comes of it and he doesn’t reappear – the weight of the connection is a 1.

Georgie and Boy@Party2 – Georgie and the boy are attracted to each other and holding hands by the end of the party.  It is implied that they sleep together, but he fails to reappear the weight of the connection is a 2.

I used Prof. Posner’s tutorial to create a simple social network model, found here.