Characterization

A CRUCI A L PA RT O F MA K I NG A
STO RY CO MPE LLI N G TO REA D.
 Characterization

 The process authors use to develop characters and create

images of the characters for the audience.
 There are two different approaches to characterization,
including direct characterization and indirect
characterization.
 With the direct approach, the author tells us what he or
she wants us to know about the character.
 With indirect characterization, the author shows us things
about the character to help us have an understanding of
the character's personality and effect on other characters.
 Why is it important?

 In order to interest and move readers, characters need to

seem real.
 Authors achieve this by providing details that make it
particular and build a character’s individuality.
 Good characterization gives readers a strong sense of
characters' personalities and complexities;
 it makes characters vivid, alive and believable.
 Narrative Elements

 Characterization can be direct, as when an author tells

readers what a character is like
e.g. "George was cunning and greedy."
or indirect, as when an author shows what a character is
like by portraying his or her actions, speech, or thoughts
e.g. "On the crowded subway, George slipped his hand into
the man's coat pocket and withdrew the wallet,
undetected."
Descriptions of a character's appearance, behavior,
interests, way of speaking, and other mannerisms are all
part of characterization.
 How to create it?
 For stories written in the first-person point of view,
the narrator's voice, or way of telling the story, is
essential to his or her characterization.
 Create characterization by choosing details that make
real or fictional characters seem life-like and
individual.
 Tell the reader directly what a character's personality
is like:
"Mrs. Freeman could never be brought to admit
herself wrong on any point."
—Flannery O'Connor, "Good Country People"
 Appearance and Manner

 It describes any physical aspects of the character, including hair, height, skin,
how he/she walks, etc.
 Describe a character's appearance and manner:

"The Baker, who was an older man with a thick neck, listened without saying

anything when she told him the child would be eight years old next Monday. The

baker wore a white apron that looked like a smock. Straps cut under his arms,

went around in back and then to the front again, where they were secured

under his heavy waist. He wiped his hands on his apron as he listened to her. He

kept his eyes down on the photographs and let her talk."
—Raymond Carver, "A Small, Good Thing"
 Thoughts and Motivations

 what the character thinks about the world around them. Can only be
analyzed if you are inside the character's head or told what he/she is thinking.
 How the character appears to feel about what happens to them in the story.
Portray a character's thoughts and motivations:

"I didn't come to Utah to be the same boy I'd been before. I had my
own dreams of transformation, Western dreams, dreams of freedom and
dominion and taciturn self-sufficiency. The first thing I wanted to do was change
my name. A girl named Toby had joined my class before I left Florida, and this
had caused both of us scalding humiliation.
"I wanted to call myself Jack, after Jack London. I believed that having
his name would charge me with some of the strength and competence inherent
in my idea of him. The odds were good that I'd never have to share a classroom
with a girl named Jack. And I liked the sound. Jack. Jack Wolff."
—Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life
 Dialogue

 The way a character speaks: Includes choice of words,

syntax, tone, and diction, as well as how others speak
to the character.
 Use dialogue to allow a character's words to reveal
something important about his or her nature:

"Unable to contain herself, [Mrs. Bennet] began scolding

one of her daughters. 'Don't keep coughing so, Kitty, for
heaven's sake! Have a little compassion on my nerves.
You tear them to pieces.'"
—Jane Austin, Pride and Prejudice
 Actions

 Use a character's actions to reveal his or her personality:

"He would hang around our place on Saturdays, scornful of

whatever I was doing but unable to leave me alone. I couldn't be
on the swing without him wanting to try it, and if I wouldn't give
it up he came and pushed me so that I went crooked. He teased
the dog. He got me into trouble—deliberately and maliciously, it
seemed to me afterward—by daring me to do things I wouldn't
have thought of on my own: digging up the potatoes to see how
big they were when they were still only the size of marbles, and
pushing over the stacked firewood to make a pile we could jump
off."
—Alice Munro, "Miles City, Montana"
 Reactions

 Show others' reactions to the character or person you're

portraying.
 Analyzing this means you are looking at how others in the
story react to or treat the character.
 Reactions can include verbal response, as well as physical or
emotional treatment.

"No respect at all was shown to him in the department. The

porters, far from getting up from their seats when he came in,
took no more notice of him than if a simple fly had flown across
the reception room."
—Nikolai Gogol, "The Overcoat"
 Meaningful Names

Give fictional characters meaningful names or use real people's

nicknames that relate to their personalities:

Severus Snape—"Severus" means "strict" or "severe" in Latin.

Severus Snape is a strict professor who treats Harry harshly.

Sirius Black—"Sirius" is the brightest star in the Canis Major or "Great

Dog" constellation. Sirius Black is a wizard who transforms into a black
dog.

Peeves—"To peeve" means "to annoy." Peeves is a ghost who pesters

people at Hogwarts School.

—J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter series

 Self Check

 Ask these questions when trying to understand

characterization:
What does the character look like?
 How does the character behave towards others? How do
others behave toward the character?
 What does the character seem to care about?
 What adjectives does the author use to describe the
character's personality?
 What does the character think or say?
 Example

"Lincoln's shock of black hair, brown furrowed face, and deep-set eyes made
him look older than his fifty-one years. He was a familiar figure to almost
everyone in Springfield, as was his singular way of walking, which gave the
impression that his long, gaunt frame needed oiling. He plodded forward in
an awkward manner, hands hanging at his sides or folded behind his back. His
step had no spring...

"His features, even supporters conceded, were not such 'as belong to a
handsome man.' In repose, his face was '[overspread] with sadness,' the
reporter Horace White noted... Yet when Lincoln began to speak, White
observed, 'this expression of sorrow dropped from him instantly. His face
lighted up with a winning smile, and where I had a moment before seen only
leaden sorrow I now beheld keen intelligence, genuine kindness of heart, and
the promise of true friendship.'"
—Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals
What does the character look like?
How does the character behave towards
others? How do others behave toward the
character?
What does the character seem to care
about?
What adjectives does the author use to
describe the character's personality?
What does the character think or say?
Lincoln has black hair and a wrinkled face. He
looks older than he is, and he appears deeply
sad until he starts talking. He has a particular,
awkward way of walking.
He is warm and friendly towards others, and
others—or at least this reporter—seem to react
with fondness and admiration toward him.
Lincoln seems to care about and thrive on his
interactions with others; he seems less
concerned with his physical appearance.
The author quotes the reporter as saying when
Lincoln interacts with people, he loses his
sorrowful appearance and becomes bright with
"a winning smile," "keen intelligence," "genuine
kindness," and "true friendship."
I'm not sure yet what he thinks or says.
 Tip

 Characterization never stops!

 Stay aware of how a character is described,
 how others react to the character, and
 how those things change throughout the text.
 Changes in characters are often crucial to the meaning of
a story.