“THE BEGINNING OF GRIEF”
L. Woiwode
Setting?


Outskirts of St. Paul, Minnesota
Early 40’s
Characters?

Stanion (protagonist)
Stanion has five children to support:

Carl:

Kevin:

Jim

There are also two young girls in the family

Can you identify the climax of this story?

Yes, the point of highest emotional intensity
occurs when Stanion loses control and hurts
Kevin


After the climax, Kevin and Stanion both desire
what has been lacking in their lives since the
mother’s death – understanding and love
This story has all of the elements of plot (exposition,
climax, etc . . .) but these plot devices are
secondary to the emphasis on individual Characters
and their MOTIVATIONS (reasons why characters
act the way they do)
Types of Characterization
INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
This is when emotion and
motivation are revealed
through dialogue, actions
and thought.

DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
This is when direct
statements about the
character are used to
reveal emotion and
thought.
Woiwode uses two types of characterization to
show us the characters’ emotions
Look at the following examples– What types of characterization are they?
Marvin became
extremely
frustrated when
his stapler came
up missing at the
office.
Marvin’s stapler
was missing. His
co-workers
noticed his face
was more
wrinkled than
usual and that he
was pulling tufts
of hair out of his
head.