Character Analysis

adventurous

greedy

unhappyloving aggressi

ve

fearful

When you read a story, think about the characters as if they were real people.

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shygraceful

•What does the character say and think?•What does the character do (physical •actions)?

Direct presentation

Indirect presentation

To identify character traits, think of the following:

•How does the character look?•What do the other characters think about the

character?•How does the character make you feel?

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SPEECH: What does the character say and

think?ACTIONS: What does

the character do?

DESCRIPTIONS: How does the character

look?

REACTION OF OTHERS: What do

the other characters think about the

character?

REACTION OF READERS: How does the character make

you feel?

The Name of Your Character: ________

Identify a character trait _____________If possible, identify another character trait ________________

Create an SADRR chart when you read.

“Once upon a time, in a small village in Russia there lived a woman called Baboushka. Baboushka was very house-proud. She had the tidiest house in the village and the most beautiful garden. She was always cooking, scrubbing, and sweeping, polishing and painting.”

Read the excerpt and identify a character trait for Baboushka

“All the villagers were out in the square talking

about the bright new star that had just appeared

in the sky. Everyone was very excited about the

star because it brought great news. ButBaboushka didn’t even notice the

dazzling star she was far too busy cleaning her house.”

Let’s use an organizer

Character Name: Baboushka

SPEECH: What does the character say and

think?ACTION: What does the character do?

DESCRIPTION: How does the character

look?

REACTION OF OTHERS: What do

the other characters think about the

character?

REACTION OF READER: How does the character make

you feel?

She feels she must always clean and is very “house-proud”.

She is very busy and constantly cleaning.

She looks very neat and clean.

She had the tidiest house and most beautiful garden

I like her. She seems like a nice lady

Identify a character trait for Baboushka: ________________

If possible, identify another character trait: ________________

Clean

Hard worker

devious protective

Character traits are descriptive adjectives.

We can describe characters using character traits that tell us the specific qualities of the character.

An author may tell us the character traits directly (direct presentation), but more often the author will show us these traits by what the character does (indirect presentation).

Did You Notice?

You may remember the terms we used to classify characters last week when discussing story elements. We can use the same terms for classifying characters in the novel.

The protagonist is the main character. The antagonist is the character or force opposing the main character.

However, here are some new terms to help classify characters further… Flat: characterized by one or two traits, summed up in a few

sentences. Round: complex and many-sided. Stock: a type of flat, stereotypical figure who has occurred so often in

fiction that his/her nature is immediately known (i.e. sinister villain, good sheriff, mad scientist, etc.)

Classifying Characters

Static: unchanging character from the beginning to the end.

Developing or Dynamic: undergoes a permanent change in some aspect of his/her character, personality, or outlook.

Classifying Characters

Perrine, L. (1987) Story and Structure, Toronto: Harcourt Brace Canada Ltd.

A long time ago, Nyame the god of the sky gave Ananzi the spider a huge pot which held all the wisdom of the world. Nyame told Ananzi the spider to share this wisdom with everyone he met.

The pot was filled with wonderful pictures, stories, and music and many more exciting ideas. Whenever Ananzi looked in the pot he learned something new.

Ananzi didn’t want to share the wisdom. “I will keep it for myself!” he thought.

So Ananzi decided to hid the pot of wisdom on the top of a tall tree, where no one else could find it.

Let’s Practice!

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He tied a rope around the pot and then tied it aroundhis waist. But the pot was too heavy and kept getting inAnanzi’s way.

Ananzi’s son watched him climb the tree. “Tie the pot toyour back” he shouted. “It will make the climb easier.”But when Ananzi got to the top he was very angry. “Myson knows more than I do and I have the pot ofwisdom.” he cried.

Ananzi was so angry that he threw the pot away. Crash!The pot broke into hundreds of pieces.

Whoosh! The wisdom flew everywhere! People foundbits of wisdom and started taking it home to theirfriends.

What does the character say and

think?What does the character do?

How does the character look?

What do the other characters think

about the character?

How does the character make you

feel?

Character Name: Ananzi________

Name a character trait ________________

If possible name another character trait ________________

How does understanding character traits

help me understand the story?

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Help us understand why characters speak and act the way they do.

Help us understand what the characters think or why they have certain beliefs.

Help us understand a character’s relationships with other characters.

Help us predict what characters might do next.Help us make inferences and to draw

conclusions about events in the story.

Character Traits:

Why does Ananzi want to hide the pot of knowledge?How does Ananzi feel about his son? What kind of relationship will Ananzi

have with the people who now have bits of knowledge?What might Ananzi do about losing

the pot of knowledge?What lesson could Ananzi learn from

the events in the story?

Let’s see how knowing Ananzi’s character traits might help us understand the story…

Your turn…Now using the SADRR

chart, create a character analysis of Rachel from the story “Eleven”.