Character Traits

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 2

After this lesson

• You know what character traits are
• You know the difference between direct characterisation and  indirect characterisation
• You can make a character analysis of Junior from Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian 

what does "character traits" mean?

What are descriptive adjectives?

1. Words like "clever" and "beautiful" that tell you what a character is like
2. Words like "girl" or "boy" that tell you what a character is like
3. Words that help tell the story

Which one is an example of "direct characterisation"

1. The lion crawled away in a corner when the enemy appeared
2. The lion roared loudly and ran away
3. The lion was cowardly

Which of these was NOT mentioned as a way to analyse a character?

1. How a character feels
2. How a character looks
3. How a character is treated by other characters
4. What readers' opinion of a character is

In the example of Greta, how does the rapper prove that she is sneaky, untrustworthy and dishonest?

Finish: What I think, what I do, what I feel, what I say, the way I am treated and ...

1. described
2. looked at
3. pictured
4. seen

Direct characterisation

Character traits that are told to us by the narrator directly and literarally.

Example: Jack was a shy boy.

Indirect characterisation

What we learn about a character by analysing the text and finding evidence about the character in the text

Example: Jack didn't say much and when he was forced to speak in class he would turn bright red and stutter a little.

direct characterisation

indirect characterisation

descriptive adjectives

How do you analyse a character (think of the line from the song: what I think..)

what are character traits?

After this lesson

• You know what character traits are
• You know the difference between direct characterisation and  indirect characterisation
• You can make a character analysis of Junior from Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian