Characterization

 Character- A person, animal, or thing in a work of literature.

 Characterization- The process of creating a character, including: words, actions, thoughts,
appearance, other peoples’ thoughts and perceptions about the character.
 Main Character -The character that is represented in the story the most. The plot usually
revolves around this character.
 Minor Character -One of the characters represented in the story but not the main
character.
 Static Character -A character that changes very little from the beginning to the end.
 Dynamic Character- A character that goes through a significant amount of changes from the
beginning to the end.
 Characters are the people in stories, but characterization is “the author’s presentation and
development of characters.” Characters can be either static, implying they do not grow; or they
are dynamic, meaning they do grow.

Understanding ‘Character’ Analysis

 Internal Conflict-A struggle within the character

 External Conflict -A struggle against another character, idea, organization, etc.
 Complications- things that the character must consider before solving or dealing with a conflict.
 Climax -A high point of the story, such as where a character must make a big decision.
 Motivation- Why do characters behave the way they do?
 Strengths -The positive qualities and characteristics in a character.
 Weaknesses -The negative qualities and characteristics in a character.
 Figurative Language -Any use of metaphors and/or similes by the character.

Questions about characterization you might ask include:

1. What conflicts exist between the protagonist(s) and the antagonist(s)?

2. How do characters try to solve them?
3. Do characters have contradictory traits that cause internal conflicts?
4. How do the characters relate to one another?
5. Do they understand themselves?
6. How and what do they learn about themselves?
7. How does this new understanding affect other characters?
8. Do the characters change? If not, why not? If so, how and why?

Again, these questions are only to help you develop your argument, but you may still use one of them to
form the basis of your argument

Discuss an aspect of characterization.