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Perrine’s Chapter 3

Characterization

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Plot and characterization must work together.

  • Commercial Fiction: Plot is the most important thing
  • Literary Fiction: usually more concerned with the complex characters.

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Commercial Literature: The main character

  • Usually someone attractive and sympathetic
  • Decent, honest, good hearted and good looking.
  • Larger than life qualities: dashing, daring and fearless.
  • Defies laws meant for normal people, but does it for a reason.
  • Readers identify with, sharing adventures, escapes and triumphs.
  • If he has a vive, it will be one that the reader wouldn’t mind having (James Bond and promiscuous sex)

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Literary Protagonists

  • Less defined and pigeonholed into categories.
  • May be unsympathetic and even despicable.
  • Have both good and evil impulses.
  • Are three-dimensional. Like real people.

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Literary Fiction

  • Offers opportunities to observe human behavior.
  • Understand people.
  • Develop compassion for them.
  • Allows readers to know characters sometimes more than real people.
    • Put in significant situations
    • We see exactly what is going on in their minds and their hearts (emotions)

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Presentation:How authors present characters to readers.

  • Direct Presentation: Tells the reader straight out what the character is like.
  • Indirect Presentation: The authors shows readers the characters through their thoughts, words and actions.
  • Indirect: SHOW NOT TELL!!!!!

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Characterization Examples from “The Destructors” and Blackie

  • Direct: He was just, he had no jealousy.”

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  • Indirect: He shows us that Blackie allows the gang to vote on Trevor’s project, by accepting the end of his leadership, by burning the money with Trevor, and by sticking up for Trevor at the end.

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Chris Waters from “How I met My Husband”

  • What did you think of him?
  • How did you figure it out?
  • Were you told straight out from Edie?
  • Did he think, say or do something that shows you?

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Why use direct presentation?

  • Clear
  • Economical
  • Readers don’t have to think.
  • Little emotional impact.

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Dramatized

  • Almost all fiction, characters are dramatized
  • They are shown speaking and behaving as if on a stage.

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Good Fictional Characterization

  • Characters are consistent unless there is a clear and sufficient reason to change.
  • Characters’ motivations are understood and believed.
  • Characters are plausible and life-like. Not too perfect or too monstrous.

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Types of Characters

  • Flat: one or two dimensional. Can be described by one or two personality traits.
  • Round: Fully developed. Complex and multi-sided. Like real people.

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  • Great characters can be flat: Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol

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Stock Characters

  • Stereotypes that occur so often in fiction that we automatically recognize them:
      • The string, silent sheriff
      • The brilliant detective who has eccentric habits
      • The mad scientist who performs horrible experiments on humans
      • The cruel step-mother
      • The fat, comic buffoon buddy.

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Static and Dynamic Characters

  • Static characters: Remain essentially the same.
  • Dynamic characters: Undergo an important change.

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  • Epiphany: Moment of spiritual insight into life or circumstances.

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Change of a character

  • Must be consistent with the character’s earlier actions.
  • Must be motivated by earlier circumstances.
  • Must have sufficient time to take place.
  • Must be realistic.