Lesson Topic 4: Critiquing Characters

The Protagonist and Antagonist

A man with light skin and dark hair wears an olive green deerstalker cap and matching coat. The illustrated detective holds a magnifying glass and looks as if he is on the hunt for a clue. The characters of a story add much depth by creating conflict and bringing life to the story. A protagonist and an antagonist appear in each story. The protagonist represents the main character of the story, and the antagonist is the person or force that goes against the main character. The readers need to not only analyze the story, but they should also analyze the characters within the story. The process of characterization exists to help correctly understand even the tiniest aspects of a character.

Direct and Indirect Characterization

Characterization represents the way in which an author presents and defines characters. An author can use direct characterization or indirect characterization. With direct characterization, the author makes direct statements about a character's personality and tells the reader what the character is like.

With indirect characterization, the writer reveals information about a character and his 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. The reader must infer, or make a guess based on evidence, about who the character is.

S.T.E.A.L.

Using the acronym S.T.E.A.L. remains one of the best ways to remember how to describe a character through indirect characterization. S.T.E.A.L. stands for: Speech, Thoughts, Effects on others, Actions, and Looks. For example, if a character says mean things about people (speech), chances are that the reader will understand that the character is not always a nice person. On the other hand, if a character finds a wallet on the ground and returns the wallet to the owner (actions), the reader will realize that the character might be a good person. Without a protagonist and an antagonist, very little conflict or action might appear in the story.

[CC BY 4.0] UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED | IMAGES: LICENSED AND USED ACCORDING TO TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION