Name: < >
Class: < >
Date: < >
Creating Character
Through Narrative
In these activities you are learning about and practicing the use of six basic strategies for
developing a character. They are:
1) Description
2) Dialogue
3) Action
4) Reactions of other characters
5) Setting
6) Narrative
This activity focuses on developing characters through Narrative.
In the Description activity, you described a character's external appearance and
mannerisms. From this you implied personality and character. In a Narrative description
you explain the personality and character directly. You describe the appearance and
actions and reactions of the character and even use bits of dialogue. The Narrative can
incorporate all of the other five strategies.
See how many of the six strategies you can find in this passage from The Grapes of
Wrath by John Steinbeck.
Behind them hobbled Grandma, who had survived only because she was as mean as her
husband. She had held her own with a shrill ferocious religiosity that was as lecherous
and savage as anything Grandpa could offer. Once, after a meeting, while she was still
speaking in tongues, she fired both barrels of a shotgun at her husband, ripping one of his
buttocks nearly off, and after that he admired her and did not try to torture her as children
torture bugs. As she walked she hiked her Mother Hubbard up to her knees, and she
bleated her terrible war cry: "Pu-raise Gawd for vittory."
1. List six adjectives used by Steinbeck to describe Granny's character in this narrative.
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2. Find an incident which was used to illustrate Granny's character in this narrative. Copy
that sentence below.
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3. Delete all except the one set of words which best describes Granny's character.
a. light-hearted, spirited, proud
b. gloomy, pessimistic, sad and fearful
c. intimidating, harsh, pious
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This passage is from Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow.
Next order of business: I am a graduate of an Ivy League university -- I see no reason to
embarrass my alma mater by naming her. If I hadn't been a Henderson and my father's
son, they would have thrown me out. At birth I weighed fourteen pounds, and it was a
tough delivery. Then I grew up. Six feet four inches tall. Two hundred and thirty pounds.
An enormous head, rugged, with hair like Persian lambs' fur. Suspicious eyes, usually
narrowed. Blustering ways. A great nose. I was one of three children and the only
survivor. It took all my father's charity to forgive me and I don't think he ever made it
altogether. When it came time to marry I tried to please him and chose a girl of our own
social class. A remarkable person, handsome, tall, elegant, sinewy, with long arms and
golden hair, private, fertile, and quiet. None of her family can quarrel with me if I add that
she is a schizophrenic, for she certainly is that. I, too, am considered crazy, and with good
reason -- moody, rough, tyrannical, and probably mad. To go by the ages of the kids, we
were married for about twenty years. There are Edward, Ricey, Alice, and two more -Christ, I've got plenty of children. God bless the whole bunch of them.
1. Choose two sentences from the narrative above which Bellow uses to show
Henderson's opinion of himself. Make a copy of those sentences below.
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2. Delete all except the one set of words that best describes Henderson's character.
a. light-hearted, spirited, proud
b. cumbersome, guilty, ironic
c. perceptive, concerned, amicable
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You've read vibrant descriptions of two memorable characters -- one written in the third
person, and one in the first. Now create your own memorable character – a soldier who is
a friend of your soldier in the same company. You may want exaggerating personality
traits to make the character more memorable.
List five adjectives that describe your character:
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Write a paragraph of at least five sentences that is a narrative description of your
character.
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Rewrite and edit your paragraph above. Make sure you have used at least three of the
following strategies in your narrative:
Description of your character's physical appearance and mannerisms;
Actions or incidents that illustrate your character's personality;
Reactions of your character to other characters and situations;
Settings that show your character's values and style; and
Dialogue.
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end of activity
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