1. Characterization and Point of View

2. Think about a movie or play, and what it takes to transform an actor into the character they’re playing… Clothes and makeup The way they talk, accents, their voice Gestures, the way they walk, facial expressions This is all carefully chosen by the director or the actor to help them become the character

3. Character traits- qualities shown by characters, what they’re like Can be directly described, but more often indirectly shown, you have to infer, or make an educated guessdirectly Methods include: - physical appearance; speech, thoughts and actions; how they relate to other characters Tool= character web

4. Example: Direct Characterization “Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge. a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster… External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty.” -Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

5. Character Motivation- reasons behind his or her actions Can be direct, or indirect Look for details, including: narrator’s direct comments about character’s motivation; character’s actions, thoughts, feelings, values, interactions with other characters; what you know about how humans act

6. Point of View- perspective from which story is told 1 st person: narrator is in the story, telling it, uses I, me, presents his own thoughts/ feelings, doesn’t know what other characters are thinking 3 rd person: narrator is outside the story, is omniscient if he knows the thoughts/feelings of all characters, is limited if he focuses on the thoughts/ feelings of one character and for fun…

7. Impact on reader 1 st person: feels like the narrator is talking to you, can’t always trust their interpretation of events (Rainsford), your understanding of characters/ events limited to what’s around narrator 3 rd person: might feel less personally connected to the story, more likely to learn about characters/events and what multiple characters are thinking

8. Point of view affects interpretation!