Review of Character in Short Stories
A character is any representation of an individual being presented
in a dramatic or narrative work through extended dramatic or verbal
representation. The reader can interpret characters as endowed
with moral and dispositional qualities expressed in what
they say (dialogue) and what they do (action).
CHARACTERIZATION: An author or poet's use of description,
dialogue, dialect, and action to create in the reader an emotional or
intellectual reaction to a character or to make the character more
vivid and realistic. Careful readers note each character's attitude and
thoughts, actions and reaction, as well as any language that reveals
geographic, social, or cultural background.
Methods of characterization
Direct:
Indirect:
Expository
Dramatic
Explicit
Implicit
Most often used
“Don’t’ simply say ‘the old lady
screamed’; bring her on and
let her scream.” Mark Twain
Principles of Characterization
Consistency
He or she does not behave one way
on one occasion and a different way
on another unless there is a clear reason
for the change.
Motivation
Plausibility
The character’s words and actions
must spring from motivations the reader
can understand and believe.
The author must create the illusion
that the person is real so we can forget
we are reading fiction at all.
Types of Characters
E. M. Forster: Aspects of the Novel, 1927
Round:
multi-faceted,
complex
Flat
one or two memorable traits
can be summed up in a sentence
Stock
interchangeability
Degree of Change
Static: The character is the same at the
end of the story as he or she is at the
beginning.
Developing or Dynamic:
The character undergoes a permanent
change in character, personality, or
outlook.
Often provides a
clue to the story’s
meaning, or
theme
A foil is a secondary character who contrasts with a major
character and, in so doing, highlights various facets of the
main character's personality. The author may use the foil
to set up situations in which the protagonist can show his or
her character traits. The term refers to the practice of
putting polished foil underneath a gemstone to make
it shine more brightly.
An antihero is a protagonist conspicuously lacking in
one or more of the usual traits of a traditional hero
(bravery, skill, idealism, sense and purpose).
“The antihero is an ordinary, unglorious citizen of the
modern world, usually drawn (according to Sean O’Faolain)
as someone ‘groping, puzzled, cross, mocking, frustrated,
and isolated’ ” (Kennedy and Gioia 49).
Epiphany
Epiphany is Twelfth Night - 6 January - when Christ was
visited by the Three Wise Men, and his divinity was revealed
to the world. It derives from a Greek word, epiphainein,
meaning 'to manifest', and in pre-Christian times
it was used to record appearances of gods and goddesses.
Traditionally the word has kept this specific religious
association, but over the years it has been secularized to
refer to other, non-divine forms of revelation.
Joyce's secular epiphany
The principal writer to extend the meaning of the word
as a secular term was James Joyce, who was interested
in sudden, dramatic and startling moments which seemed
to have heightened significance and to be surrounded with
a kind of magical aura.
Alice Walker
Born 1944
Biography
Discussion prompts
Critics who see Wangero as not respecting
her American heritage and being a selfish
individual find much in the story to defend
Mama’s epiphanic moment in paragraph 76.
If you agree with this point of view,
what evidence do you think they would effect?
If you see her (Wangero’s) character in a
different light please discuss your reasons.
Discussion prompts
Do you see Maggie as a foil to Wangero’s character?
Some see the following lines (par 13) as a foreshadowing
of Mama’s reaction to Wangero’s predatory behavior.
Do you?
“I used to love to milk till I was hoofed in the side
in ‘49. Cows are soothing and slow and don’t
bother you, unless you try to milk them the wrong
way.”
Protagonist
Mother and Maggie
Antagonist
Dee/ Wangero
Honesty and Integrity
Self posturing / artificiality
Self-Sacrifice
Rapacity
utilitarianism
aesthetisism
Authentic relationship to a
heritage of things made for
“everyday use”
Ethnic Pretentiousness
The quilts symbolize the following:
Inherited values
Family attachments
Independence
Self-reliance
The beauty of useful objects
The virtue of craftmanship
Possible themes for “Everyday Use”
Ingrained habits may be given up if
justice makes a greater demand.
or
A person whose honesty and
tolerance have long made her
susceptible to the strong will of
another may reach a point where she
will exert her own will for the sake of
justice.
Raymond Carver
1938-1988
Biography
“Cathedral” discussion questions
Is Carver’s narrator a static or dynamic character?
Defend your position by specific reference to the story.
Do you think he has the disposition of an “antihero”?
Many critics think this story--based on its positive
transformation of the narrator--produces a cogently
uplifting effect. Agree? Disagree?
Discussion prompt
One thematic idea Carver’s story suggests is that
through collaboration with others we may free
ourselves from the slavery of self-absorption, that
compassion is a prerequisite not just for happiness
but survival. Do you agree? Disagree?
Discussion prompt
What symbolic value
do you attach to the
cathedral?
Why do you think Carver
used it as the title?
Does the cathedral have a
strong enough catalytic effect
to make us “see” the the
narrator’s insightful moment
as numinous?
Possible Themes for “Cathedral”
Barriers tend to break down when people
effectively communicate with one another.
Even those not physically blind sometimes
need to be taught “to see.”
Stereotyping often renders sighted people
“blind” to the common humanity we all share.
Minimalism
In the 1970's and 1980's, a mode of writing known as
Minimalism became very popular. Minimalism presents what is
often a bare, simplified snapshot of some event, insisting that the reader
imagine the rest of the circumstances and guess about their impact.
Minimalism can be characterized by ordinary subject matter, straightforward
narratives, and slightness of story. Minimalism reflects a number of
contemporary thoughts. First of all this style reflects the growing
complexities of the world by refusing any attempts at explaining
the presented reality to the reader. Minimalism also suggests that
contemporary life has become too bland and standardized
to support a strongly dramatic art; we shop in malls, eat fish sticks,
and sleep under electric blankets. Minimalism also reflects the post-modern
idea that the story does not exist without the reader. Since the story takes
place in the reader’s mind, the reader needs to create the story as much
as the writer does. Raymond Carver, although he never liked to be labeled as one,
was considered by many critics to be a minimalist.