Educator Resources

Characterization Exercise

NCTE Standards: 1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 12

(Notes for characterization, indirect characterization, static character, flat character, dynamic character, and round character appear at the end. Also, the website used for this task is tc.usc.edu/vhiechoes/menu.aspx. Select "click here" to view complete list, scroll down and select Paul Parks.)

  1. Anticipatory Set: Lecture based introduction (with notes) to character, flat character, round character, static character, dynamic character, direct characterization, and indirect characterization. Students will watch a brief clip of Paul Parks. Students will then break into groups and discuss how Mr. Parks is directly and indirectly characterized.
  2. Objectives and purpose: The student will be able to write about characters in a work (i.e., whether they are static or dynamic and whether they are round or flat) by using direct and indirect characterization.
  3. Modeling: Watch Paul Parks' testimony about his early childhood in his neighborhood, how he used to fight against bullies with his friend Daniel, and directly characterize Mr. Parks and Daniel as children (Part One of testimony, 15:00 minute mark). Then, indirectly characterize Mr. Parks' mother in Part 2 at the 20 minute mark. He recalls a story of his mother telling him that he must oppose people like Hitler.
  4. Checking for Understanding: Explain that Mr. Parks is a round character (you may want to show more testimony) and that he is dynamic. Ask if Daniel and Mrs. Parks are flat or round characters. Do they change? If so, does this make them static or dynamic? How do you know this?
  5. Independent Practice Homework: Watch a television show and pick two characters. Are they static/dynamic? Flat or round? Directly and indirectly characterize each character.

Character types and Characterization

Character: In its most general literary sense, a character is a figure in a literary work. That figure need not be human, although most characters are.

  • Characterization refers to the various means by which an author describes and develops the characters in a literary work.
  • Flat characters are types or caricatures defined by a single idea or quality.
  • Round characters have the three-dimensional complexity of real people.
  • Static characters do not change significantly over the course of a work no matter what occurs.
  • Dynamic characters change (whether for better or worse) in response to circumstance and experience.

Direct characterization: explicitly presents or comments on the characters (i.e., telling the reader about the characters).

Indirect characterization: setting forth characters through representations of their actions, statements, thoughts, and feelings (showing the reader what the character is like).

Note: All definitions from The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, Third Edition.