Ch. 2 Characters: The People You’ll Meet

What are Characters? People or animals in a story Ex: Ron Weasly in Harry Potter Margot in All Summer in a Day Karana in Island of the Blue Dolphins

Physical Traits Physical traits describe a character’s outward appearance. Examples: short, brunette, stumpy, freckled, slim.

Character Traits Character traits describe a character’s demeanor or conduct, in other words, their personality, behavior, and motivations.

What are some examples? Positive Trait Examples: Efficient Easygoing Ambitious Brave Calm Careful Proper Wise Skillful Negative Trait Examples: Jealous Lazy Sneaky Strange Stingy Hopeless Demanding Annoyed Cowardly

How do you find out what traits describe a character? 1) What the character says and thinks 2) What the character does 3) What the character looks like (physical traits) 4) What others say & think about the character 5) How others react to the character

How do I explain or prove a character’s traits? When you are asked to explain a person or character’s traits, you must remember to use specific examples and then make the connection between the example and the trait. For example, if you say Brian is brave, it is not good enough to say he travels down the river and overcomes many obstacles. Instead, you must specifically explain the obstacles and THEN explain how this makes him a brave person. So:  State trait – give example – make connection

Trait Evidence from the story & Examples of when the character demonstrates the trait Connection showing how these examples prove the trait Determination The Moose asked his coach at least 3 times to let him run the ball on the football field. He spoke with his teammates to convince them that he had a valid point. By talking to the coach on repeat occasions, and by risking his teammates disapproval, Moose showed that he was a determined character.

Dynamic Characters Dynamic characters change over the course of the story. They may mature, have a change of heart or make an important decision. Usually a main character.

Static Characters Static characters remain constant and unchanged over the course of the story. These characters are usually not main characters.

Protagonist The protagonist is the main character in a story. The action centers around the protagonist.

Antagonist The antagonist is the character(s) who opposes the protagonist. The antagonist provides a source of conflict.

Direct Character Development With direct character development, the author makes a direct statement about what the character is like. Example: Leslie was a sensitive girl who cried at the drop of a hat.

Indirect Character Development With indirect character development, an author gives clues about a character’s personality through details and the interactions with other characters. This requires the reader to draw conclusions. Example: Rod did 150 crunches yesterday and grinned as he gazed at his abs.

Summary (5 sentences) Understanding character is important for my reading improvement because…