Characterization & Character Types

Why do we like or dislike characters? How do authors introduce us to

characters and let us get to know them?

Characterization

• The two methods an author uses to reveal a character to the reader

1. Direct Characterization

• An author TELLS you what a character is like.– Ex.– Scout loved reading.– Ex.— Calpurnia was a tyrant.

2. Indirect Characterization

• The author SHOWS you what a character is like through their actions, thoughts, and the ways other characters react to them.– Ex.– Jem had his little sister to think of the time I

dared him to jump off the top of the house: “If I got killed, what’d become of you?” he asked (Lee 17).

– Ex.— “From the Radley chicken yard tall pecan trees shook their fruit into the schoolyard, but the nuts lay untouched by the children: Radley pecans would kill you” (10-11).

Direct or Indirect? “Dill was a curiosity. He wore blue linen shorts that buttoned to his shirt, his hair was snow white and stuck to his head like duckfluff; he was a year my senior but I towered over him” (9).

“The Radley Place fascinated Dill. In spite of our warnings and explanations it drew him as the moon draws water, but drew him no nearer than the light-pole on the corner, a safe distane from the Radley gate. There he would stand, his arm around the fat pole, staring and wondering” (10).

“Jem gave a reasonable decription of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained” (16).

Major and Minor Characters

• Major Characters: the one or two main characters who dominate the story.

• Minor Characters: help tell the major characters’ tale by interacting with major characters and showing aspects of their personality.

Major and Minor Character Examples

Major Characters:•Jem•Scout

Minor Characters:•Calpurnia•Miss Stephanie Crawford

So where do characters like Atticus, Boo Radley, and Dill fit? Let’s sort the characters together.

The MAJOR Characters

• Protagonist: the central character in the work– NOTE: NOT necessarily a “hero”. Sometimes our

main characters are not heroes.– Can you think of an example of a non-heroic

protagonist?

• Antagonist: the opponent, enemy, or force against the protagonist and the cause of the rise of the central conflict in the work.

We know Scout is the protagonist, but who is her antagonist?

• Boo Radley?• Aunt Alexandria?• Bob Ewell?• Racism?

Characters are either Dynamic or Static

• Dynamic: a character who changes as a result of the plot.

• Static: A character who stays the same throughout the story.

Characters are either Round or Flat

• Round Character: a complex character. The reader is shown many aspects of his/her personality.

• Flat Character: usually static and shown to have only one or two aspects.

Using dynamic, static, round and flat how would you describe MAJOR characters? MINOR?

• Major Characters are usually ROUND and DYNAMIC

• Minor Characters are usually STATIC and FLAT.

Character Foils

• Characters whose purpose is to contrast with the major character in one of two ways:1. The foil is the opposite of the major character, so

the major character’s strength and virtues shine that much brighter.

2. The foil may resemble the major character, but with lesser versions of the character’s strengths and virtues, again, highlighting those aspects in the major character.

Discuss with a partner:

• Who is a character foil to Scout? Explain why.

One more concept:

Conflict in Literature

Conflict

• the struggle between the protagonist and an opposing force.

• Conflict can be either internal or external

Internal Conflict

1. Person vs. Self: occurs when the protagonist struggles within himself or herself.

– pulled by two courses of action or by differing emotions.

– often leads to a significant change in the protagonist

External Conflict1. Person vs. Person: pits the protagonist against someone else. 2. Person vs. Society: the protagonist is in conflict with the values or

laws of his or her society. 3. Person vs. Nature: a protagonist is threatened by an element of

nature (a storm, a mountain, etc.)4. Person vs. Fate: When the protagonist must fight against a fact of

life over which people have little control, such as death or disability or other circumstances outside of their control (traffic jam, late to work, fired)

5. Person vs. Supernatural: conflict in which the protagonist is pitted against elements outside of the natural realm such as ghosts, extraterrestrials, external spiritual experiences, and other unexplained occurrences.

6. Person vs. Technology: places the protagonist against man-made entities which may possess intelligence.