This document discusses techniques for characterizing characters in stories. It outlines eight methods for analyzing characters: physical description, name analysis, attitude and behavior, dialogue, thoughts, reactions of others, actions/incidents, and physical/emotional setting. The document provides examples of each method. It also discusses using direct and indirect characterization. Students are instructed to choose a character, answer questions about them, and provide textual evidence from A Game of Thrones to support their assertions using these characterization techniques.

1. Class 5Class 5
EWRT 2 A Game ofThrones

2. REVIEW: ANALOGYREVIEW: ANALOGY
1. Prophetic dreams to Bran is what flying is to a bird.
2. Asking Arya to sew is like shaking the cage of a
sleeping bear.
3. Ned’s decisions in politics is like Samsung’s release of
the Note 7. It seemed just at first, but now he sees the
flaws.
4. Power to Cersei is like wine to Tyrion
5. Forcing Arya to work on needle is like forcing Donald
Trump to release his annual tax.
.

3. AGENDAAGENDA
Defining your Character
Modes of Characterization
Direct
Indirect
Eight Methods of Characterization
Rhetorical Strategies:
Examples
Explanation
In-class Writing

4. Take a few minutes and answer theseTake a few minutes and answer these
questions about your character:questions about your character:
1. How does ancestry shape your character? Is the character at odds with
family traditions?
2. Who are character’s closest family members: spouse, children, parents,
grandparents, siblings?
3. What motivates your character? Money? Love? Truth? Power? Justice?
4. What does your character want more than anything else in the world?
5. What other characters or events are interfering with your character’s
goals? What obstacles are in the way?
6. What is your character’s single greatest fear? How did your character
acquire his or her fears?
7. What are your character’s flaws and weaknesses?
8. Do the character’s fears and flaws prevent him or her from reaching a
goal or goals?

5. Direct or Indirect?Direct or Indirect?

6. Two Modes of CharacterizationTwo Modes of Characterization
Direct Characterization
The writer makes direct
statements about a
character’s personality and
tells what the character is
like.
Think adjectives.
Indirect Characterization
The writer reveals
information about a
character and his/her
personality through that
character’s thoughts, words,
and actions, along with how
other characters respond
to that character, including
what they think and say
about him/her.
Think verbs.

7. Direct Characterization
 Gary is a nice and caring person.
 Gary can sometimes be very
mean or rude.
Indirect Characterization
 Gary watched his little brother
for two hours while their
mother was ill, taking care of his
every need. He did this without
being asked and he did not ask
for anything in return.
 “The next thing I know, Gary
was tearing up my rose garden,”
said Beatrice his elderly
grandmother as she gave her
statement to the police. She was
still badly shaken after the attack.
ShowingShowing

8. Eight ways to look at a character in a story

9. 1. Physical Description1. Physical Description
Physical description is the most common way
of describing a character.
It identifies physical attributes of the character.
height, skin, hair and eye color, short/tall, skinny/fat,
glasses, nose size and shape, disability, difference
gestures and movements: walking,
standing, moving, wrinkling brow

11. 2. Name2. Name
AnalysisAnalysis
To analyze a character’s name, look more
closely at its meaning, allusion, or
suggestion.
Not all characters have a name with significance
to the story. Often though, author’s carefully
choose a character’s name to represent a trait
or quality about the character or the story.

12. STARK: Lords of Winterfell
The English/German surname Stark means “strong,
brave.”
Stark is also a common word in the English language
meaning “harsh, grim or desolate; extremely simple
or severe; bluntly or sternly plain.” The word
comes from the Middle/Old English stearc (stiff,
firm). It is similar to the German stark and the Old
Norse sterkr (both meaning strong).
Stark also means, in an archaic sense, “powerful,
massive, robust.”
http://thekingskeep.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/whats-in-a-
name-stark-edition-2/

13. This method of characterization
is the reader’s description of the
character’s attitude and behavior.
The character’s attitude is how
the character appears to feel
about what is happening to him
or her in the story. Sometimes
we read attitude in behavior
rather than words.

15. 4. Dialogue4. Dialogue
Dialogue refers to characters’ words
Dialogue includes the characters diction
(word choice) and syntax (word
arrangement).
It also includes the tone of the character
when he or she speaks.
Is the character serious? Sarcastic? Shy?
Obnoxious? Ignorant?
These qualities can be conveyed through the
character’s dialogue.

17. 5.Thoughts5.Thoughts
 The thoughts of a character can only be
analyzed if we are inside the head of the
character.
 This means that you can only include an
analysis of a character’s thoughts if you
are told what the character is thinking.

19. 6. Reactions of Others6. Reactions of Others
When analyzing the reactions
of others, you are looking
closely at how other
characters in the story react
to or treat the character that
you are characterizing.
Reactions include verbal
responses and physical or
emotional treatment.
Character reactions can tell
you if the character you are
analyzing is liked or disliked,
popular, honest, trustworthy
and so on.

20. Example of Reactions of Others:Example of Reactions of Others:

21. 7.Action or Incident7.Action or Incident
 Characters can be analyzed by looking
at an action or incident and how it
affected them or how they reacted to it.
 What action did the character take
when confronted with a certain
situation?
 Is there and incident in the character’s
past that has shaped him or her as a
character?
 The action or incident determines the
way the character develops as the story
goes on.

23. 8. Physical/Emotional Setting:8. Physical/Emotional Setting:
The setting of a story affects
characters’ development as well
as the plot.
The physical setting of a story
is where the story is actually
taking place and can affect the
way a character develops.
The emotional setting of a story
is the series of emotions that
the character deals with
throughout the story.

25. OK. So now what?OK. So now what?
Look back to the set of questions you
answered at the beginning of class.
How do you know the answers to
these questions? Of course, you read
them in the text, either through direct
or indirect characterization clues.
Now, you have to provide the
evidence to substantiate your claims to
your reader.

26. 33. What motivates your character? Money?. What motivates your character? Money?
Love? Truth? Power? Justice?Love? Truth? Power? Justice?
Suppose I am writing about Jon Snow, and I
answered question #3 by saying that his
status as a bastard is what motivates him
in the novel.
When we assert an opinion or make a claim
about a character, we do so to support the
main argument—the thesis. But, in order to
convince the reader that our claim is true, we
must present evidence that shows it to be
true.

27. For example, if we are going to claim that Jon Snow is driven
to excel because of his status as a bastard, we might use this
quote:
But we must also tie our assertion to the quotation
so that people understand why we included the
quotation in the essay!

28. Explaining Context
To explain context, we must compose multiple sentences
that give background information about the textual evidence.
We must tell the reader what is going on in the novel in the
section we chose our passage from.
Jon arrives at the wall and begins his training with his new
“brothers,” but his skills with a sword do not win him many
friends. Four boys confront Jon to try to put him in his place,
but he is not an easy target to overcome physically. Yet,
when the boys call his mother “a whore,” Jon loses control
of himself and the confrontation escalates into a brawl. The
armorer breaks up the fight, and he reminds Jon that no
matter what the boys say about his mother, she remains
unchanged. An upset Jon slips into this reverie:

29. Jon Snow is driven to excel because of his social
status as a bastard. This is exemplified soon after
he arrives at his new post at The Wall. Jon begins
his training with his new “brothers,” but his skills with
a sword do not win him many friends. Four boys
confront Jon to try to put him in his place, but he is
not an easy target to overcome physically. Yet,
when the boys call his mother “a whore” Jon loses
control of himself, and the confrontation escalates
into a brawl. The armorer breaks up the fight, and
he reminds Jon that no matter what the boys say
about his mother, she remains unchanged. An upset
Jon slips into this reverie:
Explanation
of context

30. Yet, the connection between the evidence
and the assertion is not always clear, so
you must also explain why the evidence
you have presented makes your claim a
truth.

31. The connection between your assertion and the evidence might not yet seem
obvious, so we must explain why this bit of evidence supports our claim. We
might say something like this:
Jon’s recurring dream indicates an unresolved issue concerning his
legitimacy, and this issue influences his sense of self and guides both
his behavior and actions. In Trauma and Dreams, Barret discusses
Gestaltist Dream Theory, which suggests recurrent dreams represent
a person’s state of psychic imbalance. Because of the value placed on
parentage in A Game of Thrones, the lack of a mother upsets Jon’s
sense of value. In order to restore balance, Jon must achieve status
through another venue. This is the quest that drives his growth and
development in the novel. He is driven to prove himself an important
part of the social structure despite his bastard status.

32. Jon Snow is driven to excel because of his social
status as a bastard. This is exemplified soon after he arrives at
his new post at The Wall. Jon begins his training with his new
“brothers,” but his skills with a sword do not win him many
friends. Four boys confront Jon to try to put him in his place, but
he is not an easy target to overcome physically. Yet, when the
boys call his mother “a whore,” Jon loses control of himself, and
the confrontation escalates into a brawl. The armorer breaks up
the fight, and he reminds Jon that no matter what the boys say
about his mother, she remains unchanged. An upset Jon slips
into this reverie: “Not my mother, [he] thought stubbornly. He
knew nothing of his mother; Eddard Stark would not talk of her.
Yet he dreamed of her at times, so often that he could almost
see her face. In his dreams, she was beautiful, and highborn,
and her eyes were kind” (122). Jon’s recurring dream indicates
an unresolved issue concerning his legitimacy, and this issue
influences his sense of self and guides both his behavior and
actions. In Trauma and Dreams, Barret discusses Gestaltist
Dream Theory, which suggests recurrent dreams represent a
person’s state of psychic imbalance. Because of the value
placed on parentage in A Game of Thrones, the lack of a
mother upsets Jon’s sense of self-value. In order to restore
balance, Jon must achieve status through another venue. This
is the quest that drives his growth and development in the novel.
He is determined to prove himself an important part of the
social structure despite his standing of bastard.
Explanation
of context

33. Now go back to your questions and answers:
Choose one and write down your assertion
Find textual evidence (a quotation) to support it
Write an explanation of the context
 Compose multiple sentences in which you give
background information about where you found
your textual evidence. What’s going on in the novel
in the section you chose your passage from?
Write an explanation of the evidence
 Tell how your textual support (your quotation)
makes your point.
Add a concluding sentence

34. RememberRemember
In order to help a reader see your argument, you have to
provide, explain, and analyze evidence that supports your
thesis.
In this type of essay, evidence (examples) acts as
supporting material to explain or clarify the your thesis.
The key to a good essay is to use enough detailed and
specific examples to get your points across. Examples
should be carefully chosen so that they will appeal to
readers and help them understand your argument.
 Effective examples should enhance your writing, giving
your essay vitality and intensity.

35.  Your essay may contain both brief and
comprehensive examples.
 Brief examples may occur relatively frequently within
the essay, with just enough concise details to illustrate
clear-cut ideas.
 Comprehensive examples are used to illustrate
complex ideas that can not be adequately explained
using brief examples. For instance, if you are trying to
show nuanced characteristics, you might have to group
multiple examples to make your point.
 Be choosey about what you include, using the
strongest examples. Make every example work in your
favor.

36. HomeworkHomework
Read A Game of Thrones through 500
Post # 8 In-class writing: Paragraph
practice
Post #9 Find one example for six of the
eight methods of characterization.
Study Vocabulary:
◦ Test class seven