People are not born with character. It has to be developed. One must chose to build either good or bad character. In the novel "His Mother's Son", by Cai Emmons, Jana Thomas develops from being a shy and worried woman, who pushes away her past at the beginning of the book, to a normal, customary mother. Jana starts as a timid, anxious mother who can't get beyond her past. She is found to over re-act to her son's behaviour. Finally, she has to face her past and overcome it before she is able to be an ordinary mother. Jana Thomas' character develops once she faces her past and overcomes it.

Jana was evasive of her past so she tried to stay away from people. She also didn't talk a lot because she feared people might ask questions about her past. She remembers how she didn't have any friends...