Only three elements are necessary to create fiction: character, conflict, and setting. Character and conflict are the two elements most pertinent to the successful analysis of a story.
Short stories are intended to illustrate to the reader a rather limited observation on human nature. Poe suggested that a short story should focus on a single character in a single episode (conflict) to produce a single effect (central idea). As a result, in most short stories very focused characters have very concise conflicts that yield very specific central ideas. So, a thorough understanding of the mechanics of character and conflict is a key to good analysis.
Conflict will be discussed thoroughly in the Assignment 4 lecture. At this point, you should be aware that the central character generally has a series of problems to overcome in the story. Usually, the biggest problem is inside the character.
Contents
What Is a Character?
Central Character
Key Trait
Minor Characters
Static or Dynamic?
Characterization
Dialogue
Analyzing Character
Detailed Example of Character Analysis
Writing the Assignment 3 Character Analysis
Sample Character Analysis - Assignment 3
ASSIGNMENT 3 REQUIREMENTS
Guidelines for Submitting Your Assignment Files
Character refers to the individuals or entities that inhabit a story. Characters are usually humans, but they can also be animals, other creatures, or even forces, such as nature. An added quality fills a story when the reader can identify with characters in the story, especially the central character.
Characters differ from real people. Though characters may seem lifelike, they are less complex, less thoughtful, and less emotionally deep than real people. For the purpose of illustrating a central idea, authors make their characters more shallow and more focused than real people. Limited details about characters are presented, and these details are usually linked to conflict and central idea. In addition, the central character generally has a beginning key trait or value that motivates him or her throughout the middle of the story. This beginning key trait may or may not change as a result of the outcome of the story.
Clues to characters are often revealed in the title of the story or in the characters' names themselves. Consider a title such as "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," which helps the reader to identify the central character. Consider also character names such as the detective Sam Spade (He digs up clues.), the pathetic salesman Willy Loman (He is the low man on the totem pole.), the outlaw Liberty Valance (He enjoys his kind of freedom on the edge of civilization.), or the myopic Miss Brill with her problem of perception (A brill is a kind of fish. Look it up.).
Edgar Allan Poe suggested that a short story should have a single figure in a single episode to achieve a single effect. Accordingly, most short stories have one central, or main, character. The central character is usually a round character, one more carefully drawn and presented in more detail by the author. The central character, or protagonist, is the one character around whom the action of the story revolves.
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For logical consistency in your analysis: |
The central character will have a beginning key trait--a behavior, an attitude, or a value that drives and motivates the character. This key trait will not be the character's occupation or temporary emotions. It will be a fundamental internal characteristic that is in some way out of balance in the character.
The beginning key trait and its imbalance will lead the character into a series of minor conflicts, or complications. But the main problem, or central conflict, will be the central character's imbalanced key trait.
The beginning key trait will be more than a simple emotion. If the character is unhappy, you must determine why the character is unhappy. Each time you can ask a why question and find an answer, the closer you are to the key trait. When you ask a why question for which there is no apparent answer, you should have arrived at the key trait.
The beginning key trait is often revealed or suggested in the beginning of the story. Then, most of the character's actions in the middle of the story are motivated by this key trait. Often, characters will be unaware that their key trait is out of balance. The out of balance key trait produces an internal conflict in the character, though the character is generally unaware of the conflict.
For example, Dave Saunders doesn't know his belief that a gun will make him a man is out of whack. But that belief gets him in all sorts of trouble. When a story contains a central character who is unaware of his or her internal conflict, that character is known as a passive protagonist. The character may try actively to solve the minor conflicts, but the protagonist is passive because he or she makes no effort to solve the central internal conflict of which he or she is generally not aware.
Many central characters experience a change in their key trait at the end of the story, or outcome. Usually, the beginning key trait changes to a contrary ending trait as a result of the outcome of the conflict. In fact, in many stories the central conflict is the struggle of the two opposing traits for control of the passive protagonist. At the end, the central character may be shocked into realization of the imbalanced beginning key trait and will actively change his or her fundamental character. A conceited character, for example, may be humbled at the end. A miserly character may be shocked into generosity.
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For analytical purposes, the student should
A short story will also have several minor characters. Most minor characters will serve as antagonists, or obstacles that hinder or irritate the central character. These minor characters serve to move the plot along, or they may in some way add to the story's meaning.
Minor characters are usually flat characters, lacking in complexity, very generalized, and presented with few details. In analysis, you should not be concerned with the static or dynamic nature of minor characters in a short story. In most cases, such minor characters are static.
Minor characters may be stereotyped or stock characters. Stock characters conform to patterns established in other stories and have personalities easily recognizable to the reader: the mad scientist, the dumb jock, the crooked politician, the sleazy used-car salesman, the cruel stepmother, the nerdy teenager, the sinister villain. Stock characters are often found in stories by authors that lack characterization skills. Some authors, though, may use stereotyped characters to challenge the reader's prejudices about such characters.
Minor characters can be helpful in analysis because they often serve as foils. They may complement or contrast the central character. In some stories, two minor characters may embody the two traits that are in conflict in the central character.
For example, in Shakespeare's Hamlet, Horatio and Laertes are minor characters; Hamlet is the central character. Horatio is a man who thinks so much he cannot bring himself to action; Laertes is a man given to action without thought. These traits embodied by the two minor characters are the very traits conflicting in Hamlet.
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Hamlet (in central conflict) Horatio (thought) vs. Laertes (action) |
This same situation is present in the old Star Trek series. Spock is thought without action; Dr. McCoy is action without thought; these two traits are balanced in Captain Kirk. These foil triangles can be found in stories such as
The central character may undergo a significant, fundamental change as a result of the outcome of the conflict. If he does change, he is called a dynamic character. Dynamic characters become dynamic as a result of the experience of the conflict. If he does not change, he is called a static character. Static characters remain static as a result of their motivation.
The central character has a key trait at the beginning that is a problem for the character (though he may be unaware of the problem), and this internal problem causes other external problems. Through the attempt to solve the external problems, the character may or may not undergo a change at the end of the story.
Your determination of this change or lack of change can only be made at or after the climax of the story. At any point prior to the climax, the character may still change or revert to former ways. In making the determination of static or dynamic, you are limited to the span of events in the story. Do not guess what might happen after the story ends or what might have happened before the story began or what the character should do or become. These are all forms of speculation, and they are not allowed as evidence.
To make a logical determination of static or dynamic, you should consider several things.
Furthermore, death is not a dynamic change. Some significant change in personality must occur before death for a character to be considered dynamic.
Click here for a Charles Atlas cartoon about a dynamic change.
A static character will be fundamentally unchanged by the conflict and its outcome. Lack of change is not necessarily a bad thing. If the character has a positive beginning trait, change is not really necessary or even desirable. How the lack of change affects a character's life is important. For some characters, lack of change yields benefits, for others ruin.
If the character is static, the beginning trait and the ending trait are the same. No lasting fundamental change occurs in the character, and the opposing trait in the conflict must be assumed by the reader. For example, if a character's beginning key trait is resistance to change, one can assume that willingness to change is the opposing trait in the conflict. The imbalance in a static character is not corrected.
Though a character may seem to change in the middle of a story, you must use evidence from the end of the story--at or after the climax--to make your determination that the character is static or dynamic. For example, a person who wins the lottery and gets rich is not necessarily a dynamic character. A person who goes from not liking a person to not disliking that person so much is not necessarily a dynamic character. The dynamic character must undergo a change in values. If the character is fundamentally the same at the end as at the beginning, with the same motivating key trait, then the character is static. In this type of story, the central idea is often concerned with why the character has not changed.
Characterization deals with the presentation or development of a fictional character by an author. For characterization to be convincing, characters must be lifelike, believable, reasonably consistent in behavior, and clearly motivated in action. An author may use direct or indirect presentation in characterization.
Direct presentation is a form of immediate revelation that an author uses. The author tells the reader what a character is like through explicit statements of description or exposition. Things revealed this way may include name, age, or general appearance. Unless coupled with indirect presentation, this method is generally emotionally unconvincing. The story will lack immediacy and realism; the character will seem only to be an explanation or a lecture.
Indirect presentation refers to a form of gradual revelation used by an author. The author shows the reader what a character is like through actions, words, or thoughts. Instead of an author telling the reader that a character is clumsy, with indirect presentation an author would show a character stumbling around running into things. This method of characterization is usually more satisfying for the reader because the reader is making assumptions about the character based on the details presented; the reader has a greater sense of participation in the story.
A reader may learn about a character in a variety of ways, each with varying degrees of reliability.
Dialogue is talk between two or more fictional characters. A character speaking to himself is a monologue. Dialogue in a story should be substantial, not trivial, unless the author is trying to show the character as being trivial.
Dialogue has several purposes:
Though character and conflict are separate elements, they are closely tied in the successful analysis of a story. As the Basics of Fiction Analysis document and schematic suggest, the internal conflict is really just the struggle between the opposing traits that are grappling for control of the character's behavior. Identifying the beginning key trait allows you to deduce the opposing trait, and the two traits then can be plugged into the internal conflict.
At any point prior to the climax, a character with an apparent change can revert to former ways. The climax seals the fate of the character, and no reversal is possible after the climax. As a result, you should only use evidence from the climax or after the climax to support your analytical claim of static or dynamic character.
For a successful analysis of character:
Without an internal conflict, the key trait of the central character becomes insignificant. Without a key trait, the central idea becomes insignificant.
Again, if you can identify the beginning key trait, you have located half the internal conflict. The other half will be apparent at the end of the story, or you can deduce it as the opposite of the beginning key trait. The climax of the story and evidence following the climax demonstrate that one or the other of the traits prevails at the end, making the character static or dynamic.
Conflict will be discussed in greater detail in the Assignment 4 Lecture, but a basic understanding of conflict helps in the analysis of character. During the middle of the story, the internal conflict spawns a series of minor conflicts that lead the character into deeper and deeper trouble. Young Dave in "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" has the internal conflict of immaturity vs. maturity, with immaturity as his beginning key trait. His immaturity causes him to lie, break promises, and act irresponsibly in a series of mishaps. Each mishap makes his situation worse.
You should be able to point out the most important mishaps, or minor conflicts, in the story. Also identify the specific event that serves as the climax of the story. Do not simply suggest that the climax occurs near the end of the story, because the climax in most stories is near the end. Show the effect of the outcome of the conflict on the character, which is basically to make the character static or dynamic.
A thesis statement for an analysis of character (as in Assignment 3) should identify the character as static or dynamic: Wright uses the static character of Dave to suggest that MATURITY IS A PRODUCT OF ONE'S ACTIONS AND ATTITUDES, NOT ONE'S POSSESSIONS.
Here's an example of how character might be employed in a story. Be aware that this is a discussion of the use of character, but not a well-organized analytical essay as you are required to do. See the sample analytical essay on "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" below.
NOTE: Before you continue in this lecture, you should read "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" in Fiction 100 or elsewhere.
When the central character, Dave Saunders, first appears in Richard Wright's "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," he is walking across the fields near sunset, angry that the other fieldhands make fun of him and treat him like a boy. He believes that, at age 17, he is almost a man. Dave immediately displays his beginning key trait, immaturity, when he concludes that a gun will win him respect. He also says he will even beg his ma for the money to buy the gun.
Dave goes to Joe's store on the way home to borrow a Sears-Roebuck catalog. He wants to moon over the guns in the catalog. Noticing Dave's fancy with the guns, Joe says that he has a gun to sell, an old Civil War pistol. Dave, again displaying his immaturity, is only concerned that the gun has bullets in it; he does not consider the longer-range matter of additional ammunition. Joe says he will sell the gun for $2, and Dave swears that he will get the money and buy the gun.
At home, Dave continues to pore over the pages of the catalog, fingering the pictures of the guns longingly. His mother notices his unusual behavior and threatens to destroy the catalog, so Dave temporarily puts it aside. He bolts down his supper, avoids his father, and finally gets his mother alone after supper. He tells her that they need a gun in the house, something the father apparently does not believe because there is no gun already. Here Dave again demonstrates his immaturity with his perverse view of adulthood. His father seems to gain respect through his character, but Dave believes respect is won through intimidation in the form of a gun. Nevertheless, Dave is able to convince his mother to allow him to buy the gun by saying he will give it to his father. As she gives him the money, she tells him to come straight home with it and give it to her.
Of course, Dave, in his boyish delight, does not hear anything she says, and he runs off to buy the gun. With his new prize in hand, he goes into the fields and brandishes his new gun, claiming he could kill anyone with it and that with the gun in his possession, "they would have to respect him." But he does not shoot the gun, because he is not sure he knows how to shoot it, suggesting he does not really know how to handle the symbol of adulthood, or adulthood itself, again demonstrating his immaturity.
Dave does not come in the house until everyone is sleeping, and when his mother comes later in the night to demand the gun, he first acts as though he is asleep. Then he lies to her about the gun's whereabouts, again showing his childishness. Before dawn, he is up and out of the house without eating breakfast, the gun strapped to his leg. He arrives at the barn and confronts Mr. Hawkins, his white employer, who eyes Dave suspiciously. Dave claims he is up early to get to work. Hawkins sends him to a stretch near the woods, and Dave is delighted because he can fire the gun without being detected.
In the fields, Dave plows two rows, but then he stops to test the gun. He walks off from the mule and plow, takes out the gun and claims he is not afraid. "The gun felt loose in his fingers; he waved it wildly for a moment. Then he shut his eyes and tightened his forefinger." This passage suggests again he does not know how to handle his perceived symbol of adulthood, and the closing of his eyes suggests he cannot see what makes one an adult. After firing the gun, he suffers from the recoil, his hand numb. In a childish gesture, he kicks the gun, blaming it for his pain.
Meanwhile, the mule has run off, apparently frightened by the gunshot. However, when Dave finally catches up to the mule, he discovers it is bleeding; he has accidentally shot it. In a childish move, he tries to plug the bullet hole with mud. He tries desperately to stop the bleeding, trying to hide his mistake. Of course, he is unable to do so. "He had a queer feeling that if he only did something, this would not be." But there is nothing he can do, and the mule dies. Dave then buries the gun and before heading home, he makes up a story about the mule's demise.
Later, a crowd has gathered around the dead mule, and Mr. Hawkins questions Dave about its death. Dave claims the mule got wild and stabbed itself with the plow, though others in the crowd claim the wound looks like a bullet hole. Dave continues his immaturity by lying and trying to escape the responsibilities of his actions, but his mother asks him where the gun is, and the cat is out of the bag. Nevertheless, Dave continues to lie and says he threw the gun in the creek. His father tells him to retrieve it and return it Joe for the $2, which he will then give to Mr. Hawkins. In all, Dave is to pay $50 for the dead mule at the rate of $2 per month. His father tells Dave to prepare for a whipping, and Dave cries to cap off his many displays of immaturity.
That night, Dave cannot sleep as he remembers being laughed at and also being threatened with a whipping. He decides he wants to keep the gun. He gets out of bed and slips into the night to get the gun and see if he can fire it correctly. He digs up the gun, blows off the dirt, then prepares to shoot it. "But, as soon as he wanted to pull the trigger, he shut his eyes and turned his head. Naw, Ah can't shoot wid mah eyes closed n mah head turned. With effort he held his eyes open; then he squeezed." This time he fires the gun successfully, so he fires again and again until all the bullets are gone. Then, though he seems to have gained control of the weapon (and the perceived symbol of his adulthood), he wishes he had one more bullet to shoot at Mr. Hawkins' house, reverting to his childish thinking, claiming that such an action would let Mr. Hawkins know that Dave was a man.
Dave hears the train coming, and considering his two-year commitment to repay the debt for the consequences of his action, he decides to hop the train. Dave's hopping the train marks the climax of the story. At any point earlier in the story, Dave could have accepted his responsibilities; he did not. Even as he stands by the tracks, he can make a decision: he can go back home and repay the debt, or he can run away from his responsibilities. He chooses to run away. He hops the train, the empty gun in his pocket, as the tracks stretch "away to somewhere, somewhere he could be a man . . ."
Is Dave static or dynamic? Well, that depends on your interpretation of his final act. If we all agree that most of his actions are motivated by his beginning key trait of immaturity, we must decide if his final act is also an act of immaturity. Consider a few things. The first time he fires the gun, he does so with his eyes closed, suggesting he cannot see what makes one an adult. The next time he fires the gun, he does so with his eyes open, but does he at this point perceive the true nature of adulthood? No, not really, because he still believes that adulthood and respect are won by intimidation.
When he hops the train, is he demonstrating his ability to go off and be a man on his own, with no money, no real skills, and an empty gun? (The gun is still a symbol of his idea of adulthood; now we see it is empty.) Or is he, by hopping the train, running away from his responsibilities, refusing to accept the consequences of his actions? Isn't being responsible for the consequences of our actions really the mark of adulthood? At least the courts think so. Richard Wright seems to agree as well, suggesting that Dave is static and still a boy because he must go somewhere else "where he could be a man." The "could be" suggests he is not yet one when the story ends, marking Dave as a static character.
In most internal conflicts, the struggle is between the beginning key trait and some opposing trait. If the character is static, the beginning key trait prevails and overwhelms the opposing trait, so that the character exits the story with the beginning key trait intact. We can say that Dave's central internal conflict is immaturity vs. maturity. Immaturity prevails, so Dave is a static character.
If the character is dynamic, the opposing key trait prevails and replaces the beginning key trait, so that at the end, the character has changed from, for example, immature to mature. The evidence for either situation must come from the climax or after, because once the climax occurs, the character can no longer experience a reversal.
A few final points. As noted, the gun is a symbol of Dave's perception of adulthood. The gun costs Dave $2. Note that the monthly cost of repaying the debt is also $2, suggesting that the price of adulthood is in fact being responsible for the consequences of actions. Dave says near the end that "They treat me like a mule, n then they beat me." Does the shooting of the mule suggest the breaking of bonds? At the beginning of the story, Dave believes that having a gun will make the others stopping laughing at him and treating him like a boy. Ironically, at the end, after he has gained and misused the gun, he is in worse shape than at the beginning; his expectations are certainly not met, resulting in situational irony.
The sample analysis below suggests an appropriate content for the character essay you will write for Assignment 3. The central idea is in CAPITAL LETTERS, and the thesis statement is underlined.
The sample analysis is single-spaced. Your typed analysis must be double-spaced.
Beginning with Assignment 3, you will include a thesis statement in your introductory paragraph. The thesis statement will indicate your analytical intent by specifying the elements of fiction you will analyze in the essay. The thesis statement ideally should be the last sentence in your introductory paragraph.
For Assignment 3, your introductory paragraph must include these five parts:
Running on EmptyRichard Wright's "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" is about a farmboy's desperate desire to be treated as an adult. Young Dave Saunders, the central character, feels that he should be treated as an adult, and he believes that owning a gun will win him that treatment. After buying a cheap gun, Dave accidentally shoots a mule, lies about what happened, and then hops a train to escape the consequences. Wright uses the static character of Dave Saunders to suggest that MATURITY IS A PRODUCT OF ONE'S ACTIONS AND ATTITUDES, NOT ONE'S POSSESSIONS.
At the beginning of the story, Dave Saunders is a discontented boy. He believes he is "almost a man" at age 17. He wants more respect from the older fieldhands, and he wants to be treated better by his parents. But Dave's beginning key trait, his immaturity, is evident throughout the story. His mother must keep his money so that he will not spend it foolishly. He whines and cajoles her to get his way and even plots to beg her to give him the money. Dave acts like an immature boy, so everyone treats him as one. His immature actions continue until the end of the story. He lies to his mother about the gun and its whereabouts. Then he accidentally shoots a mule and lies about that, too. Only when threatened with a beating does he confess. Later, he retrieves the gun and runs into the night with it, later firing it with some measure of ability, but he soon runs out of bullets. At the climax of the story, Dave decides to hop a train, in effect running away from his responsibilities, another indicator of his ending key trait of immaturity. Indeed, the author confirms Dave's static character in the last scene. Dave hops the train to go "somewhere . . . he could be a man," the "could be" showing that he is not yet one.
First, read a story from the list below. Reading the story at least twice is recommended. These stories are in Fiction 100.
Assignment stories:
Second, write a two-paragraph analytical essay. Use the referential-interpretive purpose to write your analysis.
Submit this assignment using the Submissions button in Blackboard.
If you are not sure how to submit your assignment file by now, review the guidelines at this link to Assignment 2.