Direct and Indirect Characterization

Identify how authors reveal character by telling and by showing.

Authors build characters in two ways. Direct characterization tells you: 'Marcus was generous. ' Indirect characterization shows you through evidence, and readers must infer. A helpful checklist for indirect clues is speech, thoughts, effect on others, actions, and looks. Compare: 'Marcus was generous' versus 'Marcus handed his only umbrella to the stranger at the bus stop and walked home in the rain, whistling.

' The second version never uses the word generous, yet you know it, and you also learn he is cheerful about it. Indirect characterization is more convincing because you see the proof. When you analyze a character, collect two or three indirect clues and name the trait they share. Then check whether any clue complicates the picture. If Marcus later refuses to lend his bike, that tension might be the point of the story. Real characters, like real people, are not one single trait.

• 1Direct characterization tells a trait outright
• 2Indirect characterization shows it through speech, thoughts, effects, actions, and looks
• 3Gather several clues, then name the trait they share