Writing Boot Camp
AP Literature & Composition
Characterization
• Writing about people in literature
Characterization…
• Defined as:
• Verbal representation of human beings
• Action, speech, description, commentary
• ALL actions, interactions, speeches and observations are
deliberate
Characterization…
• Types of characters:
• Round-dynamic; recognize change with or
adjust to circumstances
• Usually protagonist and antagonist
• Flat- do not grow, remain static and are usually
stock characters (representatives of their own
class or group)
Characterization…
• Character trait
• A character trait is a word that describes a person. A
physical trait describes a person's physical features and
physical abilities, but a character trait focuses on
a character's personality/demeanor.
• Examples: active, ambitious, charming, curious, hateful,
popular, stubborn and wise
• Character traits help to determine the quality of mind or
habitual mode of behavior which is often a primary
characteristic.
Characterization…
• How authors disclose characters in literature:
• SATDO
• S (SAY): What characters say-statements that reveal what
they are like
• A (ACT): Actions by characters reveal their natures
• T (THINK): What characters think reveal motives
• D (DESCRIPTIONS): The author’s descriptions, both
personal and environmental
• O (OTHERS SAY): We learn about characters from what
others say about them
Characterization…
• Possible approaches to writing about character:
• Develop a central trait or major characteristic
• Explain a character’s growth or change
• Reveal primary characteristics around central actions,
objects or quotations
• Develop qualities of a flat character
Characterization: AP Prompt
Carefully read the following excerpt from the novel Under
the Feet of Jesus by Helena María Viramontes.
Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze the
development of Estrella’s character. In your analysis, you
may wish to consider such literary elements as selection of
detail, figurative language, and tone.
Setting
• THREE basic types:
• Nature and the Outdoors
• Objects of human manufacture and construction
• Historical and Cultural
Setting…
• Nature and the Outdoors
• Natural settings: hills, shorelines, valleys, mountains,
meadows, trees, lakes
• Living creatures: birds, dogs, horses and snakes
• Seasons, time and conditions: day or night, summer
or winter, sunlight or darkness, wind or stillness, rain
or snow
Setting…
• Objects of human manufacture and construction
• Interior and exteriors of houses
• Possessions such as: canes, kitchen tables, bedroom
furniture, couches
• Personal possessions: jewelry, hair ribbons, glasses,
shoes, pictures on the walls
Setting…
• Historical and Cultural
• Catholic rituals, religious skepticism, political
climates, historical eras
• Democrat, Republican, Roaring 20’s,
Buddhism, Atheist
Setting…
• Functions of Setting:
• Helps establish literary credibility
• May be a strong guide to character
• May be an organizing element such as framing (a work begins
and ends with descriptions of the same scene forming an
enclosure: Of Mice and Men)
• May be a literary symbol
• May establish a works atmosphere or mood: TONE
• Some authors use setting IRONICALLY
Setting: AP Prompt
•
“And, after all, our surroundings influence our lives and characters as much as fate, destiny
or any supernatural agency.” Pauline Hopkins, Contending Forces
Choose a novel or play in which cultural, physical, or geographical surroundings shape
psychological or moral traits in a character. Then write a well-organized essay in which you
analyze how surroundings affect this character and illuminate the meaning of the work as a
whole.
•
Many writers use a country setting to establish values within a work of literature. For
example, the country may be a place of virtue and peace or one of primitivism and
ignorance. Choose a novel or play in which such a setting plays a significant role. Then write
an essay in which you analyze how the country setting functions in the work as a whole.
Point of View
• Defined: Point of View (POV) is the position or stance of
the work’s narrator
• Concerns NOT only the speaker’s physical position as
observer and recorder, but also how his/her political,
social and mental circumstances affect the narrator
POV…
• Conditions affecting POV
• Physical situation of the narrator.
• A major participant of witness-close or distant? (did
the narrator witness something)
• How much is he/she priviledged to know?
• Qualifications-What are his/her qualifications and/or
limitations as observer?
• How accurate are his/her reports?
POV…
• Speaker’s (narrator) intellectual and emotional
position
• How much will he/she gain or lose from the story?
• Are his words colored by his interest?
• Any hidden agenda (persuasive purpose)?
• His/her values impacting to the action?
POV…
• First Person POV
• Defined: tells what he/she has PERSONALLY
witnessed
• Reliable? Usually authoritative.
• Unreliable? Has misleading information or may
intentionally mislead, distort or lie.
• Is he/she a major or minor participant? A nonparticipant?
POV…
• Third Person POV
• Defined: is a form of storytelling in which a narrator relates all action in
third person, using third person pronouns such as "he" or "she."
• Speaker is anonymous who emphasizes actions and speech of others
• Dramatic (objective) “fly on the wall” technique (renders action by an
unidentified speaker, the presentation is limited only to what is seen
and heard-said or happens (action).)
• OMNISCIENT: ALL knowing (reports not only happenings and
dialogue, but the inner-working of a character’s mind)
• LIMITIED OMNISCIENT: Limits the narrations to actions and
thoughts of ONE character
POV…
• What to write about?
• How is the narration made probable? What are his/her
qualifications? Is the story from his/her imagination?
• How does the narrator perceive time or the action? If
tense is past, how does he/she establish relationships
between present and past? (by drawing lessons,
explanations)
• To what extent does he/she make the work interesting
and effective?
POV: AP Prompt
The following passage is from the novel Middlemarch by George
Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann Evans (1819–1880). In the
passage, Rosamond and Tertius Lydgate, a recently married
couple, confront financial difficulties.
Read the passage carefully. Then write a well-developed essay in
which you analyze how Eliot portrays these two characters and
their complex relationship as husband and wife. You may wish to
consider such literary devices as narrative perspective and selection
of detail.
Plot
• Defined: is how the action in a work of literature is developed. (it
is more than sequential incident that follow one another in
chronological order.
• Conflict: is the connected pattern of causes and effects which
a character must face and try to overcome
• Is directly related to doubt, tension and interest
• Opposing forces arouse curiosity, cause doubt, create
tension and produce interest
• Identify the protagonist and antagonist and how their
characteristics put them into conflict
• Dilemma: is a difficult or impossible choice
Plot…
• Freytag’s Pyramid
• a diagram of the structure of a five-act tragedy, given by
Gustav Freytag
• widely accepted (and sometimes adapted) as a means of
analyzing the structure (Plot) of many kinds of fiction in
addition to drama.
Plot…
Freytag’s Pyramid
Plot…
• Exposition
• the introductory material, which often creates the tone. Gives the
setting, introduces the characters, and supplies other facts necessary for
understanding.
• Inciting Moment
Plot…
• the event or force that sets in motion the rising action of a work of
fiction. Also called the precipitating (sudden) incident exciting force or
narrative hook.
• Rising Action
Plot…
• the part of the dramatic action that has to do with the complication of
the action. Begins with the inciting moment, gains interest or power as
the opposing groups/ideas come into conflict, and proceeds to the
climax. It can also be called the complication (introduces the problem).
Plot…
• Climax
• the turning point in the action, the crisis at which the rising
action reverses and becomes the falling action.
Plot…
• Falling Action
• the second half of the dramatic plot. It follows the climax and
often exhibits the winding down of the climax.
Plot…
• Resolution
• the end of the falling action and the solution of the conflict.
The resolution is not always a happy ending.
Plot…
• Denouement
• involves not only the resolution of the conflict but an explanation of all
the secrets and misunderstandings connected with the plot; the tying up
of loose ends, exposure of a villain, clearing up a mistaken identity,
reuniting characters, etc. NOT EVERY STORY HAS ONE!
Plot…
• Types of Structure:
• Formal Pattern (most common)
• Flashback
• Selective Recollection- in which present circumstances are
explained by the selective introduction of past events
• Speaker’s Memories of the Past
• Geography or Room Arrangements
• Unfold in an apparently accidental way or with fragments of
conversation
Plot…
• When writing about structure (plot):
• Note if the story is divided into sections or parts. What structural
importance do they have?
• What changes do you note? Weather, times of day, places?
• If the story departs from the formal structure, what purpose do these
departures have?
• What variations in chronological order appear?
• Are there any delays of crucial details of the exposition? For what effect?
• Where does an important action or major section begin?
Plot: AP Prompt
In The Writing of Fiction (1925), novelist Edith Wharton states the following: At
every stage in the progress of his tale the novelist must rely on what may be
called the illuminating incident to reveal and emphasize the inner meaning of
each situation. Illuminating incidents are the magic casements of fiction, its
vistas on infinity.
Choose a novel or play that you have studied and write a well-organized essay
in which you describe an "illuminating" episode or moment and explain how it
functions as a "casement," a window that opens onto the meaning of the work
as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.
Theme
• Defined: A theme is an idea that results from abstract
thinking.
• There can be many themes in a literary work
Theme…
• Discovering a theme in a literary work:
• Analyzing:
• Action, character depiction, scenes and language
Theme…
• The major idea in a work is called the THEME
• To what do the ideas pertain to?
• Individuals?
• Society?
• Religion?
• Economic Justice?
Theme…
• How balanced is the THEME?
• How balanced are the ideas in the work?
• If a particular idea is strongly presented, what conditions
and qualifications are also presented?
• Any contradictory ideas?
• Are the ideas limited to members of any groups
represented by the character?
• Age, race, nationality, personal status?
• Are the ideas applicable to general conditions of life?
Theme…
• When writing about THEME:
• Analyze the ideas as it applies to character.
• Show how actions bring out the idea.
• Show how dialogue and separate speeches bring out
the idea.
• Show how the work’s structure is determined by the
idea.
Theme: AP Prompt
The conflict created when the will of an individual opposes the will of the
majority is the recurring theme of many novels, plays, and essays. Select the
work of an essayist who is in opposition to his or her society; or from a work of
recognized literary merit, select a fictional character who is in opposition to his
or her society.
In a critical essay, analyze the conflict and discuss the moral and ethical
implications for both the individual and the society. Do not summarize the plot
or action of the work you choose.