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This article was co-written by Jamie Korsmo, PhD. Jamie Korsmo is an English graduate student at Georgia State University.
This article has been viewed 14,820 times.
To learn how to write a character analysis, you need to read the literary work carefully and note what the author reveals about the character through the dialogue, progression, and plot of the story. Literary analysts will write about the role of each character in the work. The protagonist is the most important, and the character who plays the villain in conflict with the main character is called the villain. Great writers often create multifaceted characters, so character analysis should focus on this complexity. Here are a few things to keep in mind when writing your character analysis.
Steps
Begin
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Choose character. With the character analysis assigned by the school, you will probably be assigned the character to be analyzed. But if chosen, you should only consider characters who play an active role in the story. Characters with overly simplistic personalities (one-way personalities – completely good or completely bad people with no complex motives to consider) are not good choices for character analysis. [1] X Research Source
- For example, if you are going to analyze a character from Mark Twain’s classic novel Huckleberry Finn , you might consider choosing Huck or Jim, a runaway slave, because those are dynamic characters that manifest multiple arcs. emotional level and often have unpredictable actions, thereby creating the development of the plot.
- Perhaps the character analysis will be less effective if you choose the character of the duke or the king, the two con artists that Huck and Jim meet in Arkansas, because they only play a relatively minor role in the story, they do not represent shows a wide range of emotions, and most of all, it’s just additional characters (the story needs a funny turn and an excuse for Jim and Huck to separate, from which Huck has his immortal moment Okay, I ready to go to hell! , in which the duke and king fill the role).
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Read the story and pay attention to the chosen character. Even if you have read the work before, you still need to read it again, because you will notice new details related to the task that you have in mind. Pay attention to each place in the story where your character appears and consider the following:
- How does the author describe them?
- For example, with the character Huck Finn , you can think of how the author described Huck, a boy who was born and raised in a remote area but clearly struggled with big problems. and deals with complex social issues such as slavery and religion.
- What are the relationships between that character and other characters?
- Think about how Huck relates to Jim, a runaway slave, both at the beginning and at the end. Think about Huck’s relationship with his abusive alcoholic father, and how that shaped his character.
- How did the character’s actions affect the plot?
- Huck is the main character, so obviously his actions are important. But what’s so special about Huck’s way of acting? What made your decisions different from others in the same situation? You can talk about how Huck decided to save Jim from those who tried to return him to his master, because he believed that slavery was wrong, even though this idea went against everything he knew. taught.
- What difficulties does your character have to deal with?
- Think how Huck has grown and wiser throughout the story. At the beginning of the series, he is often caught up in schemes (such as faking his death); however, Huck later learns to avoid the scams he sees (like when Huck tries to get rid of two crooks, the duke and the king).
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Note. Take note of all the important elements that help to deepen the portrayal of the main character as you read the story a second time. Make notes in the margins and underline important passages.
- You can also keep a journal to keep track of your thoughts about the character as you read the story.
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Choose the main idea. Gather all your notes about the character and try to think of the main idea that relates to those notes. This will be the thesis statement for the character analysis. Think about their actions, their motives, and the ending of the story. Maybe your thesis statement is about how a typical character for a growing boy struggles with problems, or about honest human nature. Maybe your character shows the reader that no matter how big a mistake people make, they can still redeem themselves and deserve forgiveness.
- In the example of Huck Finn , you can bring up the hypocrisy of civilized society, because in essence, the novel is about a boy raised in favor of slavery, but through Through the experience of walking along the river with Jim, he has learned to appreciate Jim as a person and consider him a friend, not treat him like a slave. Similarly, it was Huck’s father who captured and turned Huck into a “slave”. That situation prompted Huck to flee and sympathize with Jim’s longing for freedom. Society at the time considered Huck’s escape to be fair and ethical, but Jim’s escape was a grave sin for the urban population. This contradiction is the core problem of the story.
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Make an outline. Once you’ve decided on the main idea of your analysis, you need to make a brief outline of the evidence. Make a note of where in the passage there is a character that represents the personality you have chosen to highlight in your thesis statement. Adding references can help further analyze the character. [2] X Research Source
- An outline will organize your ideas and help you maintain your train of thought as you write your analysis.
Write a character analysis
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Write the opening paragraph. Keeping the theme in mind, prepare an introduction to your chosen character and his role in the work.
- The introduction should state the topic of the analysis, reveal enough information, arouse interest in the reader, and the thesis statement.
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Describe the character’s appearance. Describe a character’s physical appearance and show what their appearance reveals about who they are. Remember to quote or paraphrase directly from the work.
- Think about Huck’s ragged clothes and the details about his personality. Discuss how Huck dresses as a little girl to catch the news in the city and how this change in appearance affects your analysis of Huck.
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Discuss the character’s background. If you have information, include in the analysis details of the character’s biography (some details may have to be deduced). A character’s bio can’t help but influence their personality and character development, so it’s important to discuss a character’s bio, if you can. Where/when was the character born and raised? What education do they receive? How do characters’ past experiences affect their words and actions?
- Discuss Huck’s relationship with his father, his relationship with his widow Douglas and Miss Watson, who took care of Huck. How did these characters influence Huck’s development? The contrast between Huck’s alcoholic father and the conservative ladies who later took care of him is a continuum of social behavior for you to analyze and see if Huck’s beliefs/actions fall short. somewhere in the continuum.
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Refers to the character’s language. Analyze the language the character uses throughout the work. Does the character use the same language from beginning to end or is there a change from the beginning of the story to the end?
- Huck was a naughty boy and often spoke in a manner that Mrs. Douglas displeased. He also tries very hard to listen to her and behave properly in church but often makes mistakes, and through his actions and words, he identifies himself as a far cry from the kind of politeness he is trying to achieve. pretend or as the widow wishes.
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Write about the character’s personality. Does the character act based on emotion or reason? What values has the character shown through his words and actions? Does the character have goals and ambitions? Be specific and remember to quote or paraphrase from the work.
- Huck Finn tries to follow social norms, but in the end he acts on emotions. He decides to save Jim from being sent back to his master, even though this is against the law, because he believes that Jim doesn’t deserve to be treated like a slave. Huck has made his own decisions against the values society has taught him.
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Analyze the character’s relationship with other characters. Think about how the character interacts with other people in the story. Is the character a pioneer or a follower? Does the character have close friends or family? Use the references in the work to include in your analysis.
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Describe the change and growth of the character throughout the work. Most of the main characters will experience conflicts throughout the course of the story. [3] X Source of Research Some conflicts come from outside (due to external forces that the character cannot control, or due to circumstances and people around), while some conflicts takes place within the character’s interior (the struggle with himself as the character has to process his own feelings or actions). [4] X Research Source Is the character better or worse at the end? Impressive characters often change or mature in valuable works.
- Huck’s external conflict lies in every event that occurs on the journey along the river – the hardships of the journey, the unfortunate incidents that occur along the way, getting caught up in scandals and conspiracies, etc… Huck’s inner conflict reaches its climax when he decides to help Jim get out of slavery. This is a hugely important moment in the series, as Huck does what his heart tells him instead of his social conscience.
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Gather evidence for the analysis. Be sure to provide specific examples from the work to support your character arguments. [5] X Research Sources Include citations to support your argument, if possible. [6] X Sources of Research If the author describes a character as sloppy, you should provide specific details showing this character trait, quoting or paraphrasing directly from the work.
Use evidence in your essay
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Support your article with references from the work. This means that you should include quotes from the work you are analyzing to support the points you make in the article.
- Citations from the work help increase the credibility of the article and will support your arguments more effectively.
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Use the PIE method. In English, those are the abbreviations for Point (point out), Illustrate (prove) and Explain (explain), which means you will show, prove (with quotes from the work) and explain. about how the citations support what you’ve stated. [7] X Research Sources
- For example, you could write something like this: Huck Finn discovered his whole new self while rafting in the river. He was certain that “On rafts as big as this, rafters must be valuable.” This describes the freedom and pride that the boy associated with the raft.
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Attach the quote to your own words. Quotations should never stand alone in an essay. You need to use your own words to “glue” the quote into your sentence before or after the quote.
- Sai: “On big rafts like this, rafters must be worth a lot .”
- Right: You’re bound to think “On rafts as big as these, rafters must be valuable.”
- Right: “On rafts as big as these, rafters must be valuable,” insisted Huck.
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Don’t quote too much. Your words need to make up 90% of the analysis, and the remaining 10% are direct quotes. Essays that use too many quotes seem lazy and inefficient, and will probably get a bad grade.
Advice
- Write a draft first to gather ideas for your analysis before editing it for submission.
- Use specific details from the work to support your every point.
- Organize your analysis carefully. Write an introduction that engages the reader. Make sure each paragraph is consistent and revolves around a main theme. Connect your work with the perfect conclusion.
- The characters also have negative points. Analyze those characteristics to give you a deeper look at the character’s personality.
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This article was co-written by Jamie Korsmo, PhD. Jamie Korsmo is an English graduate student at Georgia State University.
This article has been viewed 14,820 times.
To learn how to write a character analysis, you need to read the literary work carefully and note what the author reveals about the character through the dialogue, progression, and plot of the story. Literary analysts will write about the role of each character in the work. The protagonist is the most important, and the character who plays the villain in conflict with the main character is called the villain. Great writers often create multifaceted characters, so character analysis should focus on this complexity. Here are a few things to keep in mind when writing your character analysis.
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