What is Characterization?

By: Stephanie Russo

Characterization Is…A portrayal or description of characters.

The creation and convincing representation of fictitious characters.

The way the author describes and reveals the personality of a character.

Example: “Anna is tall and smart” Example: “All of the students in her class we smaller

than her”

How Do We Find Character Traits?

To find different character traits about a character, we have to pay attention to the words the author chooses. Any type of description word can be a character trait. This technique is called “inferring.”

EXAMPLE: Point out some character traits that you can infer from this passage:

Bonnie Graham just had to admit it: EARL was a bad robot. No longer could she overlook his many faults. He played music that was just embarrassingly bad.

He seemed incapable of cool robot things like dancing the robot or cutting steel with his laser

eyes. At night his pistons and spinning gears made so much noise that Bonnie could hardly sleep, even when she got really mad and squeezed him into the closet. Even though she invented him and he wore a nice blue shirt and black pants and a beautiful hat,

she could not stand him.

Direct Characterization

In literature, the method of character development in which the author simply tells what the character is like. (Directly)

Example 1: “The girl is very shy. So when she tried out for the basketball team and made it, she was ecstatic.

Example 2: “When his mother got mad, she was scary to be around. When she gets mad, she always gets very loud.”

Indirect CharacterizationThe writer reveals information about a character and his

personality through that character’s:

Thoughts and feelings

Words

Actions

Appearance

How other characters respond to that character, including what they think and say about him/her.

Example: When Jane walked in the room, nobody could help but look at her stunning, gorgeous face. She commanded attention wherever she went due to her good looks.

Thoughts and FeelingsThe author reveals what is

inside the character’s mind. Most likely revealing new information about the character that we didn’t know before.

Example: Julia looked at herself in the mirror and thought, “I don’t like this shirt. It’s to big.” She threw the shirt on her bed. Her mom saw her do this and thought, “She must be really upset that the shirt doesn’t fit her.

Worried

Lively

AppearanceYou can find out many

things about a character by looking at what they wear, their body language, their facial expressions, etc.

Example: “My mother was wearing a red dress with black heals and a black sweater. She had a smile on her face and hugged me goodbye.”

Happy

Neat

Actions and WordsCharacters reveal a trait about themselves

by what they do through out the story and the words they choose to explain themselves or talk to others.

Example: “Julia wanted to go play outside. When she got outside she started to play with the dirt and dig for worms. She had mud all over herself and unlike other little girls, she loved it and instead of freaking out, she was calm.”

Example: Haleigh said, “I love you so much, mom! I don’t know what I would do without you.”

GratefulTough Calm

Other Characters CommentsOther characters in the story may make

comments about a certain character describing something we didn’t know already.

Example: “In school yesterday, I saw James pushing a 6th grader around. He wasn’t being very nice at all!”

MeanBurdensome