Character An inside view...

Tom Sawyer Ali Baba The Cat in the Hat John Henry Hercules Rikki-tikki-tavi Do you know these characters?

What Is a Character? Malcolm Emmons/NFL Photos Digital Imagery copyright © 2004 PhotoDisc, Inc./HRW A character is a person or animal who takes part in the action of a story, play, or other literary work.

How Authors Reveal Character A writer can reveal a character in the following ways: 1.letting the reader hear the character speak “I can’t go to the movies,” she said, “I have to finish my report.” 2.describing how the character looks and dresses Roland patted down his cropped black hair and then tucked his gray T-shirt into his jeans. The outline of his wallet was permanently etched into his back left pocket.

How Authors Reveal Character 3.letting the reader listen to the character’s inner thoughts and feelings Jasmine’s heart raced when she saw all the people sitting in the audience. She was nervous, but she just kept telling herself, “You can do this. You know your lines. You’ll do fine.” 4.revealing what other people in the story think or say about the character There was just something about Thomas that made me feel comfortable. I knew I could tell him anything, and he wouldn’t judge me.

How Authors Reveal Character 5.showing the reader what the character does—how he or she acts Howard got up from the bench and offered his seat to the man holding a sleeping toddler with one arm and a bag of groceries in his other hand. 6.telling the reader directly what the character’s personality is like (cruel, kind, sneaky, brave, and so on) Although Mrs. Flint often frowned at our “uncivilized” behavior, she was a kind and generous woman.

Are the following statements true or false? ____________— A character in a story can be an animal. ____________— An author may reveal a character by describing how the character looks or dresses. ____________— Authors never directly reveal what the character’s personality is like. What Have You Learned? True False True

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