Lesson Topic 3: Critiquing Characters

The Protagonist and Antagonist

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.

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.

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