A PowerPoint for middle school language arts on character and characterization.

1. CHARACTER AND
CHARACTERIZATION
Mrs. Minks Language Arts

2. Types of Characters
• Protagonist – The protagonist is a character in a work
of fiction whose intentions are the primary focus of a story.

3. Types of Characters
• Antagonist – The antagonist is a character (or
sometimes an institution) against whom the protagonist(s)
must fight.

4. Types of Characters
• Flat character – Flat characters are minor characters in
a work of fiction who do not tend to undergo substantial
emotional change or growth.

5. Types of Characters
• Round Character – Round characters are major
characters in a work of fiction who encounter conflict and
are changed by it. Round characters tend to be more fully
developed and described than flat characters.

6. Types of Characters
• Stock characters – A stock character is a fictional
character that relies heavily on cultural types or
stereotypes for its personality, manner of speech, and
other characteristics. Stock characters are instantly
recognizable to members of a given culture.

7. Types of Characters
• Static Character – Static do not undergo substantial
emotional change or growth, remaining essentially the
same in the end as he or she was at the beginning.

8. Types of characters
• Dynamic Character – A dynamic character is one who
undergoes an important change in the course of the story.
The changes are not changes in circumstance, but
changes in some sense within the character – changes in
insight or understanding, changes in beliefs or values, etc.

9. Characterization
• Characterization is the way in which a writer
reveals the personality of a character.
• There are two types of characterization:
• Direct Characterization
• Indirect Characterization

10. Direct Characterization
• The author tells the reader what the personality of the
character is.
“He’s good-looking, he’s strong enough to handle the work
in the mines, and he can hunt. You can tell by the way the
girls whisper about him when he walks by in school that
they want him” (10).

11. Indirect Characterization
• The author shows the reader things that reveal the
personality of the character.
“I reach her just as she is about to mount the steps. With
one sweep of my arm, I push her behind me. “I volunteer!” I
gasp. “I volunteer as tribute!””(22)

12. Indirect Characterization - STEAL
Speech
What does the character say? How does
the character speak?
Thoughts
What is revealed through the character’s
private thoughts and feelings?
Effect on
What is revealed through the character’s
others (others effect on other people? How do other
feel about the characters feel or behave in reaction to the
character
character?
Actions
What does the character do? How does the
character behave?
Looks
What does the character look like? How
does the character dress?