Painting With Character Prewriting Exercise

I have given you several paintings that include a human figure by the major twentieth-century
painter Edward Hopper (see attached images). Choose your favorite one of these paintings for
this prewriting exercise, which combines description with the creation of a character. Your
prewriting will serve as the springboard for a short story about the character (or characters) in
your chosen painting.
Study your chosen painting, before you write responses to the following questions.
1. What is the title of the painting? How does this title relate to the painted images that you see?
Edward Hopper, Automat – an automat is a store, usually selling fast food, that sells its products
using machines or automated systems.
2. There are one or more human figures in this painting. What is each human figure doing? Is
he/she in the middle of an action, or is he/she about to begin or complete an action?
The woman in the painting is in the middle of raising her coffee cup (presumably purchased from
a vending machine) to drink it, in the middle of the night.
3. The human figure is situated in an interior space. What does this interior space look like?
What adjectives would you use to describe this interior space (for example, inviting/uninviting,
warm/cold, social/isolating?
The interior of the automat could be described as “cold”, with harsh, fluorescent light reflected in
the glass window. We know that the painting is likely set in the middle of the night, because the
window is pitch black, reflecting the lights from within.
4. Is the human figure engaged in the act of working? Or does the painting depict a moment of
leisure? How does the painter create the sense that the human figure is working (since the
painting can only show one “frozen moment”)? (Work usually entails ongoing, sustained,
action). If the human figure is resting, how does the painter create a sense of leisure in the
painting?
There is tension in the painting – the woman, about to drink her coffee, is in the middle of
pondering something, alone, in the middle of the night, at a restaurant where human interaction is
kept to a minimum.
5. Is the scene lit by daylight or artificial light-sources, such as those that one sees in the city?
What time of day is it, and how do you know?
The scene is lit by only artificial light sources, with relatively harsh fluorescent lights.
6. Now choose one human figure in your painting. You should select the human figure that most
interests you. Imagine what this human figure is thinking and feeling in the scene that the
painting depicts. Brainstorm. Be creative. Feel free two draw. Begin to write down this human
figure’s interior thoughts and emotions. Also describe his external actions.
The woman in the scene is likely going through a hard time in her life – she specifically went out
of her way to go to the most isolated/socially distanced area to eat, at a time where most people
would likely be asleep to ponder about something while drinking coffee.
7. As you continue to imagine, describe this person as though he/she is a character in a story.
What has happened to him in his life? Why is he where he is now? What has just happened to
him in the hours, minutes, or seconds before the painter captured him? What is about to happen
to him in the near future? How does he feel about his present situation?
The woman in the scene is likely to ponder about her situation for a while longer (maybe even
until dawn breaks), while avoiding human interaction by staying at the automat. Note that this
pondering isn’t of a black-and-white “sad” type – it likely goes deeper, into some kind of deeper
melancholy.