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Characters & Characterization. English 7CP Mr. Snow. CHARACTERS. Character: person or animal (or thing ) that takes action in a story. C haracter trait: a quality about a character that can’t be seen. Character traits are revealed through actions, speech & thoughts. CHARACTERIZATION.
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Characters & Characterization English 7CP Mr. Snow
CHARACTERS • Character: person or animal (or thing) that takes action in a story. • Character trait: a quality about a character that can’t be seen. • Character traits are revealed through actions, speech & thoughts.
CHARACTERIZATION • Characterization: how the author describes his or her character. • Direct characterization: author tells you exactly what the character is like. • “Luther was the meanest old cuss in five counties.” • “Little Posy was barely half the size of the other orphans, but she had strong spirit.”
CHARACTERIZATION • Indirect characterization: the author lets you come to your own conclusions about the character using five techniques: • Appearance: What does he/she look like? • Action: What does he/she do? • Speech: What does he/she say and how? • Thoughts & feelings: How does he/she feel about certain situations or challenges? • Other characters’ reactions: What do others seem to feel or say about him/her?
CHARACTERIZE! • Based solely upon what you perceive by her look and expression, characterize the following person. • How does she feel? • Why? • What is her life like? • How do you know? • What do you think she would be like in public? • How about when she’s not in public? • How about now?
MOTIVATION • Why do characters do what they do or say what they say? • Motivation: the force that makes a character act as he/she does. • What is your motivation for getting an A ? • What is someone’s motivation for recycling instead of just throwing everything away? • What is a criminal’s motivation for committing a crime?
INFERENCES • Sometimes we must make inferences to figure out a character’s traits. • Inference: educated guess based on good info.
“I Am” poem • You will do an “I Am” poem. • This will serve three purposes: • It will help you to analyze yourself for certain character traits that you possess. • It will give you a chance to do some creative writing. • It will allow me to get to know you better!
“Mother and Daughter” (109) • Yollie’s mother leaves her all alone in a dark room and tiptoes out, giggling. Yollie pranks her mom back by leaving a glass of water next to her mom’s alarm clock, so that it spills when her mom hits the alarm. • What can you infer their relationship is like? • Bitter and mean Playful and loving • Now listen to the story and take note of the different character traits of Yollie and her mother, Mrs. Moreno.
Mrs. Moreno Word #1 Word #2 Word #3 Reason #1 Reason #1 Reason #1 CHARACTERIZATION • What are three character traits of Mrs. Moreno? • On your notes, write her name. • Then, below it, write three words that describe her character (not her physical traits). Circle the words. • Then attach a line and another circle to each trait and explain why. Like this:
CHARACTERIZATION • What were the words you came up with? • Loving? • Loyal? • Bold? • Playful? • Aggressive? • Hopeful? • Naïve? • Were these traits characterized directly or indirectly?
Narrative Story • Now that you’ve had a chance to learn how to characterize and use the elements of plot, you are going to write your own narrative story. • This will be entirely made up. • Focus on a good exposition, plot complications, climax, and denouement. • Make sure you have fully developed, well characterized characters (focus on indirect characterization) with motivation behind their actions!
“The Smallest Dragonboy” (119) • “The Smallest Dragonboy” tells of a young boy, Keevan, who wants to become a dragonrider. • The problem is that he is far smaller than any of the other boys, and his rival, Beterli, makes fun of Keevan’s size. • What can we already infer about these two boys, especially given the title?
“The Smallest Dragonboy” (119) • Keevan is small, but look at page 119: “Keevan was constantly working, twice as hard as any other boy his age, to prove himself…” • Keevanis a true hero despite his size, as we will learn later. • As we read the story, take Cornell notes on key passages. • Also, writepage and paragraph #’s that show either Keeven’sDETERMINATION, his BRAVERY and his GOODNESS. • You will need these later!