Characterization Notes

1
Characterization Notes

• Indirect and Direct Characterization

• Flat and Round
• Static and Dynamic

2
Direct Characterization

• Direct Characterization When the narrator or
  another character tells us what a person is like.
  
• Ex Jason was a tall, broad-shouldered football
  player who always had a smile on his face.

3
Indirect Characterization

• Indirect Characterization Requires the reader to
  look for clues that reveal a characters traits
  and motivation.
• When looking for indirect characterization,
  think about all the following
• What a character does (actions)
• What a character thinks
• What a character says (dialogue)
• What other characters say and how they react
• Ex Jody ran up the stairs to her room, tears
  streaming down her face, and slammed her door
  loudly, hoping her mother would hear.

4
Your Turn

• Look for examples of both direct and indirect
  characterization from the following passage in
  Thank You, Mam, a short story by Langston
  Hughes
• She was a large woman with a large purse that had
  everything in it but a hammer and nails. It had a
  long strap, and she carried it slung across her
  shoulder. It was about eleven oclock at night,
  and she was walking alone when a boy ran up
  behind her and tried to snatch her purse. The
  strap broke with the single tug the boy gave it
  from behind. But the boys weight and the weight
  of the purse combined caused him to lose his
  balance so, instead of taking off full blast as
  he had hoped, the boy fell on his back on the
  sidewalk, and his legs flew up. The large woman
  simply turned around and kicked him right square
  in his blue-jeaned sitter. Then she reached down,
  picked the boy up by his shirt front, and shook
  him until his teeth rattled.

5
Character Development

• Characterizationthe process of revealing the
  personality of a character.
• Round Charactera well-developed character with
  varied traits, both good and bad.
• Ex Ariel, in Disneys The Little Mermaid, has
  positive traits, like being loving and
  courageous, but she also has less flattering
  traits like being forgetful and disobedient. She
  is a well-developed character with many sides.

6
Character Development

• Flat Charactera less-developed character with
  one or a few traits he/she is usually one-sided
  or stereotypical.
• Ex Think of dumb blonde characters in many teen
  moviesthey are usually selfish, bossy, and mean.
  We never see them being nice or having problems
  of their own. They are one-sided and less
  developed.

7
Character Change

• Dynamic Charactera character that develops and
  changes over the course of a story due to a
  conflict or newfound understanding.
• Ex Scrooge is selfish and mean in the beginning
  of A Christmas Carol, but later becomes generous
  and selfless when he realizes his sins. He
  changes because of what happens to him in the
  story.

8
Character Change

• Static Charactera character who remains the same
  over the course of the entire story.
• Ex Cinderellas stepmother is mean in the
  beginning of the fairytale and mean at the end.
  She never changes.

9
Heres a trick to help you remember the
definitions

• RoundMany Characteristics
• FlatFew Characteristics
• StaticSame and DynamicDifferent

Your Turn Think back to The Most Dangerous
Game. Who is flat and who is round? Why? Who is
static and who is dynamic? Why?