Curriculum Guide for Bringing The Boy Home
The Characters in Bringing The Boy Home
One of the keys to effective reading comprehension is a clear understanding of
the characters and their relationship to one another. As you read, fill in the
information on this chart. Watch for the tricky ones at the end (*).
Character
Relationship to Protagonists
Type of Character
(protagonist, antagonist, foil, minor)
Takunami tribe
Tirio
Sarah
Joey Carter
Wata
Dr. Riley
Cal
Juan Diego
Prof. Goodwin
Luka
Karara
Sulali
Maha
Paho
Tambo
Weru
Kiwano
Tukkita
Maroma
Good Gods
Punhana
Mr. Carter
Coach Smalley
*Kuiju
*Nunooma
Characters in Bringing the Boy Home
Curriculum Guide for Bringing The Boy Home
DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHARACTERS
There are four basic “types” of characters in literature: the protagonist, the
antagonist, the foil character, and minor characters.
Let’s take a look at each.
Protagonist: the main character of a story. Notice we don’t label the protagonist the “good
guy,” any more than we’ll label the antagonist the “bad guy.” In some cases, a story might
have more than one protagonist, or main character. For instance, Harry Potter would be a
typical protagonist in literature.
Antagonist: the character in conflict with the protagonist. Again, not necessarily the “bad
guy.” In some cases, a story might have more than one protagonist, or main character. An
antagonist in the Harry Potter series would be Lord Voldemort or Malfoy.
Foil Character: a foil character tells us something important about the protagonist. In the
Harry Potter series, the Dursleys tell us about Harry’s ability to handle adversity without
magic.
Minor Characters: those characters that are necessary to further the plot, but not important in
and of themselves. In the Harry Potter series, these would be characters such as Daphne
Greengrass, a Slytherin student in Harry's year, who only appears occasionally to represent the
hundreds of other students at Hogwarts.
THESE FOUR TYPES OF CHARACTERS ARE ALSO IDENTIFIED BY WHETHER
THEY CHANGE THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF THE STORY.
Regardless of the type, characters can be either dynamic or static. Dynamic characters change
significantly as a result of the story (again, Harry Potter would fit). Static characters stay the
same throughout the course of the story (Mr. Malfoy was the same at the end of this series as
he was in the very first book).
How many you have of these types of characters is based on the length of the story itself. A
short story will likely only focus on one protagonist and one conflict simply because there is
not enough time to introduce other characters or plot twists. On the other hand, a novel has
many more pages to devote to its characters, and so more time to develop them with the use of
multiple conflicts, antagonists, and foil characters.
In any piece of literature, effective readers will constantly look to see what relationships exist
between the characters and classify them into these categories. Use the worksheet that follows
to help you do this!
Characters in Bringing the Boy Home