1. Writing Workshop Expository Writing: Character Analysis

2. Character Analysis: Assignment
Assignment: Write an essay in which you analyze a character in a novel, short story, television show, or movie. (Your audience is your teacher and classmates, or the readers of a school or local newspaper.)

3. Character Analysis: Prewriting
Feature Menu
Choosing a Character
Analyzing a Character
Finding a Main Idea
Elaborating: Finding Supporting Details
Assignment

4. Character Analysis Prewriting: Choosing a Character
Who are your favorite characters from books or stories you’ve read?
Brer Rabbit Panchito in “The Circuit” Aslan
Sunny Baudelaire Artemis Fowl
What about characters from TV shows? Comic books? Movies?
Bart Simpson Spiderman Jason in Foxtrot
Frodo Baggins Donkey

5. Character Analysis Prewriting: Choosing a Character
For your analysis, you can pick someone as real as Panchito, the young boy in “The Circuit,”
or an imaginary character like tricky old Brer Rabbit.
Try to figure out what makes the character you choose memorable for you.
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6. Character Analysis Prewriting: Analyzing a Character
When you analyze something, you break it down into parts to understand how it works.
Start by jotting down five or six adjectives that describe your character.
My character is…
clever
furry
conceited
humorous
proud
curious

7. Character Analysis Prewriting: Analyzing a Character
Next, think about how the author reveals those traits. Start with a question like this.
How do I know my character is clever?
Does the author…
describe the character as clever?
describe a clever act the character performed?
have the character say something clever?
tell about the character’s clever thoughts?
have other characters describe the character’s clever behavior?

8. Character Analysis Prewriting: Analyzing a Character
To round out your analysis, take notes on the following:
What your character looks like.
This is not always important.

9. Character Analysis Prewriting: Analyzing a Character
To round out your analysis, take notes on the following:
How your character behaves or acts.
Very important! What motivates your character? What does your character want? What does he or she do to get it?

10. Character Analysis Prewriting: Analyzing a Character
To round out your analysis, take notes on the following:
What your character says.
Are there key speeches that show your character’s wants, fears, or conflicts?

11. Character Analysis Prewriting: Analyzing a Character
To round out your analysis, take notes on the following:
What your character thinks.
Sometimes we don’t know this.

12. Character Analysis Prewriting: Analyzing a Character
To round out your analysis, take notes on the following:
How other characters in the story respond to your character.
This will tell you whether your character is well-liked or hated, and so on.

13. Character Analysis Prewriting: Analyzing a Character
To round out your analysis, take notes on the following:
What the writer tells us directly about your character.
Some writers will make direct statements: “Brer Rabbit was clever.” Others let us figure it out for ourselves.

14. Character Analysis Prewriting: Analyzing a Character
To round out your analysis, take notes on the following:
How believable your character is.
Is your character real? Does your character have a mixture of good and bad traits—as most people do?

15. Character Analysis Prewriting: Analyzing a Character
You may want to put your details into a chart like this one.
Character Profile of:
Method of Characterization
Details
Appearance
Actions
Words spoken by character
Thoughts
Other characters’ responses
Writer’s direct comments
Character’s believability

16. Character Analysis Prewriting: Analyzing a Character
Here’s a chart that is partly filled in.
Character Profile of:
Method of Characterization
Details
Appearance
Actions
Words spoken by character
Thoughts
Other characters’ responses
Writer’s direct comments
Character’s believability
Bradley
thick spiky hair, dirty blond
“Geek is chic.”
gets bullied a lot
believable, except his love life
(Some rows may not apply to your character.)
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17. Character Analysis Prewriting: Finding a Main Idea
Now work on a thesis statement that sums up your main idea—what you will discuss in your essay.
Here are two thesis statements you could make about the character Brer Rabbit:
Brer Rabbit is small, so he relies on quick thinking to escape from larger animals like Brer Fox.
Although Brer Rabbit’s tricks are usually funny, he also has a cruel side that gets him in trouble.

18. Character Analysis Prewriting: Finding a Main Idea
Here’s another thesis statement.
In Roald Dahl’s “The Landlady,” the main character, Billy Weaver, is so polite and unquestioning and really dim that he is not like a real-life person.
In Roald Dahl’s “The Landlady,” the main character, Billy Weaver, is so polite and unquestioning and really dim that he is not like a real-life person.
In Roald Dahl’s “The Landlady,” the main character, Billy Weaver, is so polite and unquestioning and really dim that he is not like a real-life person.
In Roald Dahl’s “The Landlady,” the main character, Billy Weaver, is so polite and unquestioning and really dim that he is not like a real-life person.
This thesis statement tells the reader
The name of the author and the work
The character who will be analyzed
The main idea—what the writer will explain and support

19. Character Analysis Prewriting: Elaborating: Finding Supporting Details
When you’re satisfied with your thesis statement, gather details to support your main idea.
Look at this thesis statement again.
In Roald Dahl’s “The Landlady,” the main character, Billy Weaver, is so polite and unquestioning and really dim that he is not like a real-life person.
In Roald Dahl’s “The Landlady,” the main character, Billy Weaver, is so polite and unquestioning and really dim that he is not like a real-life person.
What will the writer need to prove in the essay?

20. Character Analysis Prewriting: Elaborating: Finding Supporting Details
What supporting details might the writer use to support the claim?
In Roald Dahl’s “The Landlady,” the main character, Billy Weaver, is so polite and unquestioning and really dim that he is not like a real-life person.
How Billy doesn’t wonder about landlady’s odd questions
How Billy misses clues that something is wrong
Billy’s polite behavior and odd use of language

21. Character Analysis Drafting: Getting Started
Good characters come alive on the page (or the screen). They stick with us, whether they’re
human or animal,
historical, legendary, or fantastic.
It’s up to you to tell us what makes a character tick.

22. Writing Workshop Expository Writing: Character Analysis
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