Transcript Slide 1

Elements of Literature: Characters
Feature Menu
What Is Characterization?
Direct Characterization
Indirect Characterization
Motivation
Practice
What Is Characterization?
Characterization is the way a writer reveals
character.
Good characterization breathes life into characters
and makes readers want to know more about them.
What Is Characterization?
Characterization is the way a writer reveals
character.
Poor characterization makes the people in a story
seem lifeless and uninteresting.
If the characters in a story don’t seem real, most
readers will want to stop reading.
What Is Characterization?
Harriet Tubman was an African American woman
who helped slaves escape and travel North to
freedom.
Listen as author Ann
Petry brings Tubman to
life for her readers.
What does Petry’s
characterization tell you
about Harriet Tubman?
What Is Characterization?
Throughout her book about Harriet Tubman, Ann
Petry describes not only what Tubman did but also
how she did it.
Petry doesn’t state directly that Tubman was
smart, courageous, and strong of faith.
But her stories about
Tubman show these
qualities to readers.
[End of Section]
Direct Characterization
In direct characterization the writer simply tells
us what the character is like.
Margot was
stylish and a bit
of a snob.
Margot was a
daring,
gregarious
woman.
Margot was an
entertaining,
but not always
kind, friend.
Margot was
blunt to the
point of
rudeness.
[End of Section]
Indirect Characterization
In indirect characterization, writers show a
character in action and let us decide for ourselves
what kind of person we are meeting.
Reading indirect characterization is like getting to
know a new friend.
There are many clues that add up to a total picture
of the person’s character.
Indirect Characterization
One method of indirect characterization is
describing the character’s appearance.
Tyler dyed his hair
bright red and wore it
in long, stiff ridges that
stood straight up from
his head. He always
wore tough-looking but
odd clothes, and he
frowned at everyone.
Indirect Characterization
Another method of indirect characterization is
showing the character in action.
Whenever the teacher
asked a question, Robert
was the first to raise his
hand. He would wave it
back and forth until he
was called on.
Indirect Characterization
A third method of indirect characterization is
allowing readers to “hear” the character speak.
When I asked Mr. Rivers to
keep his dog out of our
yard, he yelled, “No one
tells me or my dog what to
do, especially not you!” He
jabbed his finger toward me.
“I pay my taxes, and my
dog will go wherever he
likes!”
Indirect Characterization
A fourth method of indirect characterization is
revealing the character’s thoughts and feelings.
I can’t believe how
frail Grandma looks,
Jamal thought. She’s
no bigger than a child.
I never thought I
would be tucking her
into bed.
Indirect Characterization
A final method of indirect characterization is
showing how others react to a character.
They’d been in the river all
day, and everyone was
hungry, but Tina kept yelling,
“Ten more miles! Ten more
miles!” Ginny closed her eyes,
and everyone else looked
away. Finally Mike said,
“You’re on your own, Tina.”
[End of Section]
Motivation
Motivation is what makes people behave the way
they do.
What do you think motivates the people in the
pictures above?
Motivation
In real life we may never know what motivates
other people.
But literature is different.
In literature you’ll find plenty of clues to a
character’s motive.
Motivation
What clues in this passage help you figure out the
character’s motivation?
Tonya stepped carefully through the front door and
closed it slowly behind her, wincing when it clicked
shut. Maybe if she didn’t make another sound, her
mother would not know she was home.
Just as she reached the carpeted stairway, having
avoiding all of the squeaky floorboards, Tonya heard
the sound of Kipper’s toenails scrambling across the
floor. Kipper threw all forty pounds of his furry self onto
Tonya, knocking her against the wall. “Tonya, is that
you?” her mother called from the kitchen. “Honey, we
need to talk.”
Motivation
The boldface text suggests that Tonya’s motive is
to avoid a conversation with her mother.
Tonya stepped carefully through the front door and
closed it slowly behind her, wincing when it clicked
shut. Maybe if she didn’t make another sound, her
mother would not know she was home.
Just as she reached the carpeted stairway, having
avoided all of the squeaky floorboards, Tonya
heard the sound of Kipper’s toenails scrambling across
the floor. Kipper threw all forty pounds of his furry self
onto Tonya, knocking her against the wall. “Tonya, is
that you?” her mother called from the kitchen.
“Honey, we need to talk.”
[End of Section]
Practice
Let’s Try It
from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou
“Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the aristocrat
of Black Stamps. She had the grace of
control to appear warm in the coldest
weather, and on the Arkansas summer
days it seemed she had a private
breeze which swirled around, cooling
her. She was thin without the taut look
of wiry people, and her printed voile
dresses and flowered hats were as right
for her as denim overalls for a farmer.
She was our side’s answer to the
richest white woman in town.”
1. Which sentence
is an example of
direct
characterization?
Practice
Let’s Try It
“Her skin was a rich black that
would have peeled like a plum if
snagged, but then no one would have
thought of getting close enough to
Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress, let
alone snag her skin. She didn’t
encourage familiarity. She wore
gloves too.
I don’t think I ever saw Mrs.
Flowers laugh, but she smiled often. A
slow widening of her thin black lips to
show even, small white teeth, then
the slow, effortless closing.”
2. Which
sentences
describe the
character’s
appearance?
3. Which
sentences
describe her
actions?
Practice
Let’s Try It
“When she chose to smile on me, I
always wanted to thank her. The
action was so graceful and inclusively
benign. . . .
One summer afternoon, sweetmilk fresh in my memory, she stopped
at the Store to buy provisions.
Another Negro woman of her health
and age would have been expected to
carry the paper sacks home in one
hand, but Momma said, ‘Sister
Flowers, I’ll send Bailey up to your
house with these things.’”
4. Which
sentences
describe another
character’s
reaction to Mrs.
Flowers?
Practice
Let’s Try It
“She smiled that slow dragging
smile, ‘Thank you, Mrs. Henderson.
I’d prefer Marguerite, though.’ My
name was beautiful when she said it.
‘I’ve been meaning to talk to her,
anyway.’ They gave each other agegroup looks. . . .
[Mrs. Flowers] said, without
turning her head, to me, ‘I hear
you’re doing very good schoolwork,
Marguerite, but that it’s all written.
The teachers report that they have
trouble getting you to talk in class.”
5. What
motivation
might Mrs.
Flowers have
for talking to
Marguerite?
6. Which
sentences
provide clues to
Mrs. Flowers’s
motivation?
Practice
On Your Own
Choose a character from a story or novel you have
read recently, and fill in a chart like the one below.
Character Profile of _________________________
Method of Characterization
Appearance:
Actions:
Words spoken by character:
Thoughts:
Other characters’ responses:
Writer’s direct comments:
Details in Story
Elements of Literature: Characters
The End