literary characterization

1. Characterization Karen S Wright

3. Minor characters

4. Flat characters

5. Round charactersMany different characters can make up a story, play, or piece of poetry.

6. How Character is Developed Authors use direct and indirect characterization to develop characters.

7. Direct Characterization With Direct characterization, the writer tells the reader what the character is like. “And I don’t play the dozens or believe in standing around with somebody in my face doing a lot of talking. I much rather just knock you down and take my chances even if I’m a little girl with skinny arms and a squeaky voice, which is how I got the name Squeaky (“Raymond’s Run” Bambara).

8. Indirect Characterization The old man bowed to all of us in the room. Then he removed his hat and gloves, slowly and carefully. Chaplin once did that in a picture, in a bank--he was the janitor (“Gentleman of Rio en Medio” Sedillo). With indirect characterization, the writer shows what a character is like by describing what the character looks like, by telling what the character says and does, and by what other characters say about and do in response to the character.

9. Character Development Direct and indirect characterization can be broken down into four distinct ways to present depth and information about characters.

12. Sometimes actions differ greatly from what the character says.

14. Emotion may color what we “see”.

15. An enemy may have prejudicial views that make situations worse.

17. Author as Storyteller What the author tells the reader about a character is to be accepted as insight into the character.

19. Flat characters

20. Dynamic characters

21. Static characters

23. A round character can change or grow.

25. Flat characters are usually minor characters and reveal one or two traits.

28. Static characters stay the same and do not develop.

29. Readers learn little about this character.

31. These characters are known by what they do and how they act.Politician Cowboy Lawyer Detective Dentist Drunk Doctor miser Teacher Pirate

32. Protagonist The Protagonist is central to the action of a story and moves against the antagonist.

33. Antagonist The antagonist is the villain or a force which opposes the the protagonist.

35. Personality

36. Background

37. Motivation

38. Relationships with other characters.

39. Conflict

40. How the character changes