Characterization

1. The preceding chapter considered plot apart from characterization, as if the two were
separable. Actually, along with the other elements of fiction discussed in later chapters, plot
and characterization work together in any good story. In commercial fiction, plot is usually more
important than indepth characterization, whereas literary writers are usually more concerned
with complex characters than with the mechanics of plot. Many literary fiction writers, in fact,
consider characterization to be the most important element of their art.

2. Analyzing characterization is more difficult than describing plot, for human character is infinitely
complex, variable, and ambiguous. Anyone can summarize what a person in a story has done,
but a writer needs considerable skill and insight into human beings to describe convincingly
who a person is. Even the most complicated plot in a detective story puts far less strain on our
understanding than does human nature. This is why commercial fiction may feature an
elaborate plot but offer characters who are simple and two-dimensional, even stereotypical. In
such fiction the characters must be easily identifiable and clearly labeled as good or bad; the
commercial author’s aim is to create characters who can carry the plot forward, not to explore
human psychology and motivation.

3. The main character in a commercial work must also be someone attractive or sympathetic. If
the protagonist is male, he need not be perfect, but usually he must be fundamentally decent—
honest, good-hearted, and preferably good-looking. He may also have larger-than-life qualities,
showing himself to be daring, dashing, or gallant. He may defy laws made for “ordinary” people,
but this makes him even more likable because he breaks the rules for a good reason: to catch a
criminal or to prevent a disaster. In commercial fiction, the reader enjoys identifying with such a
protagonist, vicariously sharing his adventures, escapes, and triumphs. If the protagonist has
vices, they must be the kind a typical reader would not mind or would enjoy having. For
instance, the main character in successful commercial fiction may be sexually promiscuous—
James Bond is a good example—and thus allow readers to indulge imaginatively in pleasures
they might not allow themselves in real life.

4. Literary fiction does not necessarily renounce the attractive character. Jane Eyre, Huckleberry
Finn, and Holden Caulfield are literary characters beloved by millions of readers; both the
narrator in “A Family Supper” and Edie in “How I Met My Husband” are likable characters as
well. But literary protagonists are less easily labeled and pigeonholed than their counterparts in
commercial fiction. Sometimes they may be wholly unsympathetic, even despicable. But
because human nature is not often entirely bad or perfectly good, literary fiction deals usually
with characters who are composed of both good and evil impulses, three-dimensional human
beings who live in our memory as “real” people long after we have stopped reading.

5. Such fiction offers an exciting opportunity to observe human nature in all its complexity and
multiplicity. It enables us to know people, to understand them, and to develop compassion for
them in a way we might not do without reading serious fiction. In some respects, we can know
fictional characters even better than we know real people in our lives. For one thing, we
observe fictional people in situations that are always significant and that serve to illuminate
their characters in a way that our daily, routine exposure to real people seldom does. We can
also view a character’s inner life in a way that’s impossible in ordinary life. Authors can show us,
if they wish, exactly what is happening in a character’s mind and emotions. In real life, of
 course, we can only guess at another person’s thoughts and feelings from external behavior,
which may be designed to conceal the person’s inner life. Because of the opportunity literary
fiction affords us of knowing its characters so thoroughly, it also enables us to understand the
motives and behavior of people in real life.

6. Authors present their characters either directly or indirectly. In direct presentation they tell us
straight out, by exposition or analysis, what the characters are like, or they have another
character in the story describe them. (Exposition is the presentation of background information
that helps place the setting, characters, and plot in context, so that the reader understands the
larger dimensions of the story.) In indirect presentation the author shows us the characters
through their actions; we determine what they are like by what they say or do. Graham Greene
uses direct presentation when he tells us about Blackie: “He was just, he had no jealousy.” He
uses indirect presentation when he shows Blackie allowing the gang to vote on Trevor’s project,
accepting the end of his leadership fairly calmly, taking orders from Trevor without resentment,
burning banknotes with Trevor, and racing him home. In this story, of course, the word “just”
has a slight ironic twist—it applies only to behavior within the gang—and Greene presents this
indirectly. Alice Munro relies on indirect presentation to showthat Chris Watters is a charming
but irresponsible barnstormer; Edie never directly criticizes him, but we feel her disillusionment
as she waits day after day for a letter that will never come.

7. Sometimes the method of direct presentation has the advantages of being clear and
economical, but good writers use it sparingly. In order to involve the reader in a character, the
author must show the character in action; the axiom “show, don’t tell” is therefore one of the
basics of fiction writing. If characters are merely described, then the story will read more like an
essay. The direct method usually has little emotional impact unless it is bolstered by the
indirect. It will give us only the explanation of a character, not the impression of a living,
breathing human being. In almost all good fiction, therefore, the characters are dramatized.
They are shown speaking and behaving, as in a stage play. If we are really to believe in the
selfishness of a character, we must see the character acting selfishly. Instead of telling us that
Frank in “Hunters in the Snow” is a selfish, self-deluding man, Wolff gives us dramatic scenes in
which Frank exhibits his selfishness and self-delusions through his dialogue and actions. Most
literary writers rely on indirect presentation and may even use it exclusively.

8. Good fiction follows three other principles of characterization. First, the characters are
consistent in their behavior: they do not behave one way on one occasion and a different way
on another unless there is a clear and sufficient reason for the change. Second, the characters’
words and actions spring from motivations the reader can understand and believe; if we can’t
understand why they behave in a certain way immediately, that understanding comes by the
end of the story. Finally, the characters must be plausible or lifelike. They cannot be perfectly
virtuous or monsters of evil; nor can they have some impossible combination of contradictory
traits. In short, the author must convince the reader that the character might well have existed
so that, at least while we’re reading, we have the illusion that the person is real and forget we
are reading fiction at all.

9. In his book Aspects of the Novel (1927), the British novelist E. M. Forster introduced terms that
have become standard in discussing types of characters; he wrote that a literary character is
either “flat” or “round.” Flat characters usually have only one or two predominant traits; they
can be summed up in a sentence or two. Richard Connell’s character Ivan, for instance, is a
 fearsome thug, and that is all we need to know about him. By contrast, round characters are
complex and many-sided; they have the three-dimensional quality of real people. Huck Finn, for
example, because Mark Twain imagined and dramatized him so successfully as an individual,
lives vigorously in the imagination of millions of readers. This is not to say that flat characters
cannot be memorable. Even though they are essentially two-dimensional, they too may be
made memorable in the hands of an expert author who creates some vivid detail of their
appearance, gestures, or speech. Ebenezer Scrooge, in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, could be
defined as a stereotype of the miserly misanthrope; but his “Bah! Humbug!” has helped make
him an immortal character.

10. Whether round or flat, all characters in good fiction are dramatized to whatever extent needed
to make them convincing and to fulfill their roles in the story. Most short stories, of course, will
have room for only one or two round characters. Minor characters must necessarily remain flat.
There are some literary stories, of course, where the exploration of individual character is not
the main focus of interest—Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” (page 264) is an example—and in
such stories none of the characters may be developed fully. Such instances, however, are
relatively rare.

11. A special kind of flat character is the stock character. These are stereotyped figures who have
recurred so often in fiction that we recognize them at once: the strong, silent sheriff; the
brilliant detective with eccentric habits; the mad scientist who performs fiendish experiments
on living people; the glamorous international spy of mysterious background; the comic
Englishman with a monocle; the cruel stepmother; and so forth. Commercial authors often rely
on such stock characters precisely because they can be grasped quickly and easily by the reader.
Such characters are like interchangeable parts that might be transferred from one story to
another. When literary writers employ a conventional type, however, they usually add
individualizing touches to help create a fresh and memorable character. A. Conan Doyle’s
Sherlock Holmes follows a stock pattern of the detective, but he remains more memorable than
hundreds of other fictional detectives who have come and gone since he was created. Similarly,
Wolff’s character Tub in “Hunters in the Snow” embodies the stereotypes of the fat, comic
buffoon; but certain details about him—his insecurity, his habit of hiding the food he eats so
compulsively—help to make him distinctive.

12. Fictional characters may also be classified as either static or developing. The static character
remains essentially the same person from the beginning of the story to the end. The developing
(or dynamic) character, on the other hand, undergoes some distinct change of character,
personality, or outlook. The change may be a large or a small one; it may be positive or
negative; but it is something significant and basic, not some minor change of habit or opinion.
The Irish writer James Joyce used a term that has become widely adopted today, noting that a
character in a story often experiences an epiphany, which he termed a moment of spiritual
insight into life or into the character’s own circumstances. This epiphany, or insight, usually
defines the moment of the developing character’s change.

13. Edie in Munro’s “How I Met My Husband” is a dynamic character, for she learns a painful lesson
about romance and growing up that alters the entire course of her life. Many stories show a
change in the protagonist as the result of some crucial situation in his or her life. This change is
usually at the heart of the story, and defining and explaining the change will be the best way to
arrive at its meaning. In commercial fiction, changes in character are likely to be relatively
 superficial, intended mainly to effect a happy ending. Readers of literary fiction, however,
usually expect that a convincing change in a character meet three conditions:
(1) it must be consistent with the individual’s characterization as dramatized in the story;
(2) it must be sufficiently motivated by the circumstances in which the character is placed; and
(3) the story must offer sufficient time for the change to take place and still be believable.

14. Essential changes in human character, after all, do not usually occur suddenly. For this reason,
good fiction will not give us a confirmed criminal who miraculously reforms at the end of a
story, or a lifelong racist who wakes up one day and decides to be tolerant and openminded. If
fiction is to be convincing, it must show us believable, dynamic, but often quiet changes or
turning points in a character’s life. When an author has carefully laid the groundwork earlier in
the story, we believe in the character’s change and experience the moment of epiphany as a
possibly small but significant marker in the life of an individual human being.

15. Ultimately it is the quality of characterization by which a literary story stands or falls. Long after
we have read even the greatest novels and short stories, we tend to remember not the
incidents of plot but the unforgettable characters who made our reading such a rich, vibrant
experience. Through the creation of character, an author can summon up a new personality, a
new voice, and an entirely new and original way of seeing the world. Such characters come alive
each time a reader takes up the story, renewing the miracle of the human imagination.

REVIEWING CHAPTER THREE

1. Describe the significance of characterization in literary fiction versus commercial fiction.

2. Distinguish between direct and indirect presentation of character in fiction.

3. Review the terms “flat character,” “round character,” and “stock character.”

4. Consider the difference between a static character and a dynamic character.

5. Explore the authors’ use of characterization in the stories that follow in this chapter

[Link]

The wishing star fell on Earth many eons ago and created the dark black forest where
it fell. It gave new life to the forest. The star has the legend of a single wish locked
away in it, waiting to be granted. While hosting a party in the town of Del Mar,
legendary hero and outlaw Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) accidentally awakens a
sleeping giant. He subdues the creature but is crushed by a bell. Waking up in a
hospital, the town doctor (Anthony Mendez) informs him that he has lost eight of his
nine lives and suggests Puss should retire. That night in a bar, Puss meets a black-
hooded wolf (Wagner Moura), who disarms and wounds him in a sword-fight. Puss is
not able to mount any resistance to the Wolf and is scared for the first time in his life
Traumatized, Puss flees to the house of cat lady Mama Luna (Da'Vine Joy Randolph),
where he buries his clothes and meets an optimistic Chihuahua disguised as a cat
whom he calls Perrito (Harvey Guillén) (a friendly and naive therapy dog who started
out as one of Mama Luna's pet cats). Puss is bored by the sedated lifestyle at Mama
Luna's. He shares the place with many many other cats and has no identity left what-
so-ever.

Goldilocks (Florence Pugh) and her Three Bears Crime Family (Mama Bear (Olivia
Colman), Papa Bear (Ray Winstone) & baby bear (Samson Kayo)) soon arrive at
Luna's home. They plan to hire Puss to steal a map bearing the Wishing Star's
location from pastry chef and crime boss "Big" Jack Horner (John Mulaney), but fail to
recognize Puss in Boots and leave after finding his "grave" (where Puss had buried
his clothes and sword). Puus overhears Goldi talking about the map to the Wishing
Star and that the map will be with Big Jack Horner. Horner, a feared pastry chef and
crime lord who plans to use the Wishing Star to gain control of all magic

Puss decides to use the Star to restore his lost lives. Accompanied by Perrito, he
breaks into Horner's bakery to steal the map, but is interrupted by his resentful ex-
fiance Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek Pinault) (a street-savvy Tuxedo cat who is Puss'
ex-fiance, and seeks the Wishing Star to find somebody she can trust), Horner, and
Goldi and the bears. Puss manages to escape with the map alongside Kitty and
Perrito, though he sees the wolf threaten him while fleeing.

The map leads the trio to the Dark Forest, a pocket dimension that changes its
landscape depending on the map's holder. Puss and Kitty get the path with the most
deadly obstacles, but Perrito's path is littered with rainbows and rivers of relaxation.
Puss and Kitty hand the map to Perrito. Meanwhile the bears, Goldi and Horner are in
pursuit of the trio. At the Pocket Full of Posies, giant roses block their path. Perrito
gets them through by simply smelling the roses. Horner follows and uses his Phoenix
to burn the entire rose meadow down.

During another clash with Horner, his henchmen, and Goldi and the bears, Puss sees
the wolf again and runs off, distracting Kitty and allowing Goldi to obtain the map.
After Perrito calms Puss' panic attack, Puss confesses to being on his last life, and
his remorse for leaving Kitty on their wedding day. Kitty overhears them and reveals
that she never attended the wedding either, believing Puss could not love anyone
more than himself.

Puss and Kitty steal back the map while Goldi and the bears are distracted by a
manifestation of their woodland cottage where Goldi and the bears first met (Goldi's
path went through Nostalgic Pines). As the dimension shifts, Puss accidentally traps
himself in a crystalline cave (In the Caves of Lost Souls), where he encounters his
arrogant past lives, and the wolf, who reveals himself as Death. The black hooded
wolf is initially presumed to be a bounty hunter. He wants to personally kill Puss as
punishment for Puss wasting eight of his nine lives. He wields twin sickles that
combine into a double-bladed weapon.

Feeling disrespected by Puss not valuing his extra lives, Death wants to take Puss'
final life prematurely. Horrified, Puss runs out of the cave towards the Star alone,
ignoring Kitty and Perrito's pleas for him to stop. Kitty feels that Puss has again
betrayed her. Meanwhile, Goldi reveals to the bears that her wish is to be reunited
with her biological family; although they are devastated, the bears agree to help her.

Puss arrives at the Star and begins to make his wish using the map, but is confronted
by Kitty, who berates him for his selfishness and confesses that her wish was to find
someone she could trust. Goldi, the bears, and Horner arrive, and a fight ensues for
the map; Goldi briefly obtains the map, but abandons it to save Baby Bear, while Kitty
traps Horner inside his magical bottomless bag. Death mounts the Star and
challenges Puss. Having learned the value of life from his time with his companions,
Puss forgoes wishing for more lives and accepts Death's duel. Puss disarms the wolf,
and declares that while he knows he can never defeat Death, he will never stop
fighting for his last life. Seeing that Puss has lost his arrogance, Death begrudgingly
spares him. Before leaving, Death and Puss agree they will meet again one day.

Horner eats a magic snack inside the bag, which makes him gigantic and allows him
to escape. He attempts to make his wish to control all of the world's magic for
himself, but Perrito distracts him long enough for Puss, Kitty, and Goldi to destroy the
map, causing the Star to collapse and consume Horner. In the aftermath, Goldi
affirms to the bears that they are her true family, and they leave to take over Horner's
bakery. Puss rekindles his romance with Kitty; the two and Perrito later steal a ship
and set sail to the Kingdom of Far Far Away.