Characters
Characters are made of words. A character answer that never looks at the words is describing a person who does not exist.
The five ways a writer reveals character
When you are asked how a character is presented, these five are what you are being asked about.
- What they say — and how. Long speeches or short answers? Questions or orders? Do they evade?
- What they do — especially what they do when it costs them something. A single decision reveals more than a page of description.
- What they think, where the text gives us access. Compare it with what they say aloud; the gap is usually the point.
- What others say about them — and whether the text shows that judgement to be fair.
- What the writer says directly — description, and the words chosen for it. Notice whether the narrator is sympathetic, neutral or hostile.
Do not write a list of adjectives
He is brave, kind, honest and hardworking is the commonest weak character answer. It is a list of labels, none of which is proved, and it would fit a hundred characters in a hundred books.
Replace each adjective with an action and its meaning. Instead of he is brave, write: he goes back into the burning shed for the goat, although he had already been told to leave, which shows a courage that does not calculate the risk first.
One proved quality is worth more than four asserted ones.
Tracking a character across a text
Where do they begin?
Note their situation, their attitude, and how the writer first presents them. First impressions in literature are usually arranged deliberately.
What changes them?
Find the moment. Most character questions are really about this moment, whatever their wording.
What do they do differently afterwards?
Change must be shown in behaviour, not only stated. Find the action after the turning point that would have been impossible before it.
Where do they end?
Compare the last appearance with the first. This comparison, done properly, can carry an entire essay.
And if they do not change?
That is equally worth writing about. A character who cannot change while everyone around them does is often the point of the text.
Useful terms
- Protagonist
- The central character whose choices drive the text. Not necessarily likeable, and not necessarily the narrator.
- Antagonist
- The force in opposition. It may be a person, a system, a place, or something inside the protagonist.
- Foil
- A character who contrasts with another and, by the contrast, shows us something about them.
- Example: A cautious brother makes a reckless one visible.
- Round and flat characters
- A round character is complex and capable of surprising us; a flat one is built from a single quality. Minor characters are often flat on purpose.
- Static and dynamic characters
- A dynamic character changes; a static one does not. Both are deliberate choices by the writer.
- Characterisation
- The methods by which a writer creates a character — the five ways listed above. Use this word when the question asks how a character is presented.
Two things to avoid
- Do not judge characters as though they were your neighbours. She was wrong to leave her family is a moral opinion, not literary analysis. Ask instead what the writer wants us to feel about her leaving, and how the text produces that feeling.
- Do not confuse a narrator with the author. A first-person narrator may be mistaken, biased or lying. Asking whether you trust the narrator is often the most rewarding question you can ask.