Characters
• Types of Characters
• Types of Characterization
Character
The people (or animals, items, etc.
presented as people) appearing in a
literary work.
Types of Characters:
Round
Flat
Dynamic
Static
Development
Change
Amount of character development
• Round Character: is fully developed,
convincing, true to life.
• Flat Character: stereotyped, shallow,
often symbolic, not fully developed; know
only one-side of the character.
Amount of change in a character
• Dynamic Character: undergoes some
basic character change in story; that is
characterized by energy of effective
action: vigorously active or
forceful;energetic
• Static Character: does not change in
the course of the story or changes very
little
Methods of Characterization
1. Direct
2. Indirect
Direct Characterization
1. Direct: “he was an old man..”
(The Old Man and the Sea)
•
Information provided to the
reader from the author
•
Details stated as facts
Methods of Characterization
Indirect Characterization
•
Physical appearance
Usually Hamadi was wearing a white shirt,
shiny black tie, and a jacket that reminded
Susan of the earth’s surface just above the
treeline on a mountain—thin, somehow
purified.
from “Hamadi”
by Naomi Shihab Nye
Methods of Characterization
Indirect Characterization
•
Actions
Disregarding the song of the birds, the waving green trees, and the smell of the flowers,
Jimmy headed straight for a restaurant.
from “A Retrieved Reformation”
by O. Henry
Methods of Characterization
Indirect Characterization
•
Own Words
“I cannot help these people yet,” he calmly
told me. “But when the time comes, I will
help them all that I can.”
from “Passage to Freedom: The
Sugihara Story” by Ken Mochizuki
Methods of Characterization
Indirect Characterization
•
Thoughts and feelings
Although she warned that she hadn’t tried
her hand at baking sweets for some time, I
was certain that like everything else about
her the cookies would be perfect.
from “Mrs. Flowers”
by Maya Angelou
Methods of Characterization
Indirect Characterization
•
Character relationship
“Now, Valentine,” said the warden, “you’ll
go out in the morning. Brace up, and
make a man of yourself. You’re not a bad
fellow at heart. Stop cracking safes, and
live straight.”
from “A Retrieved Reformation”
by O. Henry
Methods of Characterization