Characterization: Contrasts and Contradictions
Why is the character doing that?
The character acts in a way that contradicts how he or she has acted before or that contrasts with how we would act or that reveals a
difference among characters.
Look for ways a character acts that:
… are contradictory (opposite or different) to how the character has acted in the past.
… reveal a difference among characters (a way that this character is different from another).
What character action or feeling was
unexpected? (quote from the text)
Why was the action or feeling unexpected?
Why did the character do that?
“When the new minister came, and the ladies
were gathering flowers to decorate the church,
Miss Strangeworth sent over a great basket of
gladioli; when she picked the roses at all, she set
them in bowls and vases around the inside of the
house her grandfather had built” (4).
You wouldn’t expect an old lady to not want This shows that she admires her roses
her roses displayed at church.
more than the church.
“The Lewis family had been in the town almost as
long as the Strangeworths; but the day young
Lewis left high school and went to work in the
grocery, Miss Strangeworth had stopped calling
him Tommy and started calling him Mr. Lewis,
and he had stopped calling her Addie and started
calling her Miss Strangeworth. They had been in
high school together, and had gone to picnics
together, and to high-school dances and
basketball games; but now Mr. Lewis was behind
the counter in the grocery, and Miss Strangeworth
You wouldn’t expect for them to start
calling each other by their last names.
This shows that​ she may have lost respect
for him once he dropped out of high school to
work at the grocery store.
was living alone in the Strangeworth house on
Pleasant Street” (6).
“Miss Strangeworth went to the narrow desk in
the corner and unlocked it with her key. She
never knew when she might feel like writing
letters, so she kept her notepaper inside and the
desk locked” (34).
You wouldn’t expect someone to lock their
stationary unless they are hiding
something
This shows that​ she is hiding something or
trying to keep something safe or hidden
“Miss Strangeworth's usual stationery was heavy
and cream colored, with STRANGEWORTH
HOUSE engraved across the top, but, when she
felt like writing her other letters, Miss
Strangeworth used a pad of various-colored
paper bought from the local newspaper shop”
(35).
You wouldn’t expect her to change the
paper unless she doesn’t want it to be
traced back to her
This shows that​ she does not want to be
caught so she tries to be very sneaky
“​Although Miss Strangeworth's desk held a
You wouldn’t expect​ a perfectionist like MIss
Strangeworth to use a dull pencil rather than a
pen or quill and write in childish block letters
This shows that​ Miss Strangworth is a
trickster who does not want to be caught
writing mean letters
You wouldn’t expect​ Miss strangeworth to
write a letter like that or say something like
that.
This shows that​ Miss Strangeworth is cruel
and self centered. She doesn't care about the
feelings of anyone else.
You wouldn’t expect ​that Miss Strangeworth
would burn a letter that had a mistake. Usually
people just throw away paper that has
This shows that​ Miss Strangeworth was
trying to hide something that she didn't want
anyone else to see.
trimmed quill pen which had belonged to her
grandfather, and a gold-frosted fountain pen
which had belonged to her father, Miss
Strangeworth always used a dull stub of pencil
when she wrote her letters, and she printed them
in a childish block print” (36).
“​After thinking for a minute, although she had
been phrasing the letter in the back of her mind
all the way home, she wrote on a pink sheet:
DIDN'T YOU EVER SEE AN IDIOT CHILD
BEFORE? SOME PEOPLE JUST SHOULDN'T
HAVE CHILDREN SHOULD THEY” (36).
“​She was fond of doing things exactly right. When
she made a mistake, as she sometimes did, or
when the letters were not spaced nicely on the
page, she had to take the discarded page to the
kitchen stove and bum it at once. Miss
Strangeworth never delayed when things had to
be done” (37).
mistakes on it.
“​She selected a green sheet this time and wrote
You wouldn’t expect Miss Strangeworth to
be so cruel in her letters like this towards
other people in her town.
This shows that​ Miss Strangeworts has a
mean side
You wouldn’t expect ​that Miss Strangeworth
would enjoy writing such evil things about
people in the town that she loves.
This shows that​ Miss Strangeworth likes to
write evil letters to other people in the town
You wouldn’t expect anyone to put so
much pride into their own name
This shows that​ Miss Strangeworth knows
that her letters are trashy, but she views the
purpose of the letters as more important than
anything else.
You wouldn’t expect MIss Strangeworth to
think she and the tile of her name is better
than everyone else
This shows that​ Miss Stangeworth only cares
about herself and believes that she and her
family name are perfect.
You wouldn’t expect ​her to say this or even
believe this because she does not live
graciously.
This shows that​ Miss Strangeworth view on
world around her is unrealistic
quickly: HAVE YOU FOUND OUT YET WHAT
THEY WERE ALL LAUGHING ABOUT AFTER
YOU LEFT THE BRIDGE CLUB ON
THURSDAY? OR IS THE WIFE REALLY
ALWAYS THE LAST ONE TO KNOW” (38).
“​as long as evil existed unchecked in the world, it
was Miss Strangeworth's duty to keep her town
alert to it.... There were so many wicked people in
the world and only one Strangeworth left in the
town. Besides, Miss Strangeworth liked writing
her letters” (39).
“​because she never signed her name. If she had
been asked, she would have said that her name,
Adela Strangeworth, a name honored in the town
for so many years, did not belong on such trash”
(42).
“​The town where she lived had to be kept clean
and sweet, but people everywhere were lustful
and evil and degraded, and needed to be
watched; the world was so large, and there was
only one Strangeworth left in it” (42).
“​People must live graciously, after all, she
thought” (43).
“​she had always made a point of mailing her
letters very secretly; it would, of course, not have
been wise to let anyone see her mail them” (46).
“​This was, after all, her town, and these were her
people; if one of them was in trouble she ought to
know about it” (47).
“​Miss Strangeworth awakened the next morning
with a feeling of intense happiness, and for a
minute wondered why, and then remembered that
this morning three people would open her letters.
Harsh, perhaps, at first, but wickedness was
never easily banished, and a clean heart was a
scoured heart” (60).
You wouldn’t expect Miss Strangeworth to
be so suspicious mailing letters secretly
This shows that Miss Strangeworth doesn’t
want anyone to know how sketchy she truly
is.
You wouldn’t expect MIss Strangeworth to
be so selfish and self centered but at the
same time know everything about everyone
in her town and still not do anything to help
them fix their problem
This shows that​ she does not care about
those in her town, even though her family has
a long history there.
You wouldn’t expect ​that Miss Strangeworth
would get such enjoyment about saying such
harsh things about others.
This shows that​ Miss Strangeworth has no
remorse for what she has done to the people
in her town.