1. Characterization

2. WHAT IS A CHARACTER? There are many ways to categorize a character
Main: The character that the plot centers on
Minor: Exists to support the main character
Round: Realistic and life like character
Flat: Can be described in one line
Static: Not changed by the stories action or climax
Dynamic: Changed by the stories action or climax
Protagonist: Generally considered the hero
Antagonist: Generally fights against the main character

3. MAIN AND MINOR CHARACTERS
The plot of a story is focused around the main character.
Minor characters provide insight with regard to the main character. They often do not cause anything significant to happen within the plot and cannot exist without the main character.

4. DYNAMIC VS STATIC CHARACTERS
A static character is one who does not CHANGE in the course of a story.
President Snow, Hunger Games
Tybalt, Romeo and Juliet
A dynamic character, on the other hand, undergoes some important internal changes during the course of a story or as a result of a story’s action/climax.
Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Romeo and Juliet,William Shakespear’s Romeo and Juliet

5. ROUND VS FLAT CHARACTERS
Round characters are well-developed. The author gives them many traits, both good and bad. They are not easily defined in a single sentence because we know many details about the character.
Round characters are realistic and life-like.
Flat characters are not well-developed. You can define them easily in a single sentence because they do not have many traits. These characters are sometimes stereotypes.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lightening Thief
Percy Jackson (Left)
Gabe Ugliano (Right)

6. PROTAGONIST AND ANTAGONIST
The protagonist is the main character in a piece of literary work who is the hero.
In a piece of literature, the antagonist is the character that goes against, opposes, or fights the protagonist.
LOOK FOR THE SYMBOLISM HERE

7. FOIL CHARACTER
Foil characters contrast with another character (usually the protagonist) to highlight the protagonist’s personality traits.
Kirk and Spock

8. A Day in the Life of Your Foil
      To create a foil of yourself take a sheet of paper and fold it in half.  On one half of the paper write 5-8 words that describe you.  On the other half write antonyms of all of these words.  These antonyms will make of the characteristics of your foil.
       Proceed to write a day in the life of your foil that is at least a page long.  How would your foil respond to a day that you normally lead?  What does your foil do when he/she wakes up? Goes to class? Goes home? Etc.  If you want a name for your foil try your name backwards.  After all your foil is your opposite (Ex. Ms. Pinnock becomes Ms. K. Connip). 

9. CHARACTERIZATION
“The process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character is called characterization.
A writer can reveal a character is the following ways:
Direct characterization
and
Indirect characterization

10. Direct Characterization
DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION: author tells EXACTLY what the character is like: humble, ambitious, impetuous, easily manipulated, and so on
Clip

11. INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION: the process in which we (the audience) have to figure out the character.
By describing how the character looks and dresses: LOOKS
-concerned with a character’s appearance
By letting us hear the character speak: SPEECH
By revealing the character’s private thoughts and feelings: INTERNAL MONOLOGUE (Thoughts/Emotions)
-tells you a character’s true feelings
By revealing the character’s effect on other people—showing how other characters feel or behave toward the character: EFFECT ON OTHERS
By showing the character’s actions: ACTIONS
-concerned with what the character does

12. INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
An author shows characterization through:
SPEECH
Interior Monologue (Thoughts/Emotions)
EFFECTS ON OTHERS
ACTIONS
LOOKS

13. INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION ACTIVITY
Pair up to complete Characterization Chart of Two Characters of your choosing. Pairs must collaborate on the analyzing the same characters from the same medium.
Goals:
Types of Characters
Indirect Characterization