“The Scarlet Ibis”
Character Analysis Essay
Assignment
• Write a three paragraph character analysis
paper. Choose which character you want to
analyze: Doodle or Brother. Once you have
chosen a character, decide what one character
trait you want to focus on.
A strong character analysis will:
1. Identify the type of character
(protagonist/antagonist/dynamic/static),
2. Describe the character, and
3. Discuss the conflict in the story, particularly
in regards to the character’s role in it.
Grading Explanation
• Your paper will be graded based on the criteria
for success. Paper must be typed and have
proper formatting, which includes MLA heading
& double-spacing. Be sure to avoid all use of the
first person pronouns (I, me, my, you, your). Your
paper is not about “The Scarlet Ibis”; it is about a
character. When writing about literature, try to
keep the paper in present tense. (For example,
say “Doodle walks closely behind his brother,”
NOT “Doodle walked closely behind his brother.”
Introduction (paragraph 1)
When writing an introduction, follow ANT.
• Attention getter
• Necessary information
• Thesis
Attention Getter
Get the reader’s attention. This must be
relevant to the main topic of your essay.
• Fact or statistic
• Relevant quote from an outside source
• Relevant quote from the story
• Shocking or amusing generalization
Necessary Information
• Author’s full name – James Hurst
• Title of the story – “The Scarlet Ibis”
(punctuation matters!)
• Brief plot summary – in two to five sentences
briefly highlight the major conflict of the story.
Make sure to include the two main characters’
names.
Thesis
• It should be the last sentence of the
introduction paragraph. The thesis should
make it clear what character trait you are
concentrating on and how this character trait
affects the action in the story.
• Example: In A Christmas Carol by Charles
Dickens, the protagonist Scrooge is portrayed
as a cold-hearted individual though the details
given throughout the story.
Body Paragraph (paragraph 2)
Body paragraph should follow TIQA, and should
be 6-8 sentences long.
Topic sentence
Introduce quote
Quote
Analysis
Topic Sentence
• TRANSITION, then a sentence that declares
the focus of your paragraph, which would be
the character trait you wish to discuss.
Introduce Quote
• Give some context to the quote. If someone is
speaking the quote, you should tell your
reader who is talking.
• Example: As Brother remembers the last time
he walked home from Old Woman Swamp
with Doodle, he tells the reader, “…” (5).
Quote
• Provide a quote that supports the topic
sentence.
Analysis
• After the quote, spend about 1 to 2 sentences
discussing how this quote proves that the
character has this trait.
• Transition: You must use a sentence to
transition into a second quote for support.
• Example: Another time the reader sees
Doodle’s ______, is when he….”
Conclusion (paragraph 3)
• Reword your thesis. (Begin with transition: thus,
therefore, in short, etc.)
• Tie up all your points together. Then in 1-3
sentences, tell your reader the significance or
importance of the ideas you have been analyzing.
What should a reader learn from this character’s
traits (Warning: do not use you.)
• Clincher: End your paper with a short sentence
that reinforces your argument. This last sentence
should try to include some words from your
attention-getter. This gives a sense of closure to
your paper.
MLA FORMAT
MLA FORMAT: GENERAL GUIDELINES
• Papers must be typed and printed on standard, white 8x5 x
11 inch paper.
• Double-space the text of your paper.
• Times New Roman 12 pt. font.
• 1 inch margins
• In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your
name, my name, the course, and the date (double space).
• Double space between heading and title.
• Center the title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your
title in quotation marks.
• Double space between title and first line of text.
• Indent the 1st line of each paragraph (5 space bars).
• Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the
upper right hand corner
CITING YOUR SOURCES
• MLA format for in-text citations is called
parenthetical citation. Here you use authorpage method. This means that the author’s
last name and page number(s) from which the
quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear
in the text, and a complete reference must
appear on your Works Cited page.
• The author’s name may appear either in the
text itself or in parenthesis following the
quotation or paraphrase, but the page
number(s) should always appear in the
parenthesis, not in the text of your sentence.
For example:
• Woodworth stated that Romantic poetry was
marked by “spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings” (263).
• Romantic poetry is characterized by the
“Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”
(Woodworth, 263).