I believe that the most important factor in a characters evolution throughout the story is the events that take place in which the character is or even isn't involved in. I think this to be true because in an event that affect the character, it will directly affect how they feel. But something indirect can also affect a character. For example, for Maya a indirect event could be the killing of a white by a black. This does not directly involve her because she wasn't there or she didn't do it, but it will affect her because of the color of her skin. The experiences impact someones empathy because they may not want to or be able to feel for others because of something that has happened in the past. Their wisdom may also be affected because the way they see things may be altered because of event that they go through. An example of someone's empathy being changed is on page 148 and 149 when Maya says "Joyce, don't you do that to my brother." This is an example because when Maya saw what was being done to her brother, she remembered what happened to herself and tried to defend her brother. If Maya had not been through this experience herself, she may not have known about what was happening or reacted at all.