CHARACTER analysis CHARACTER analysis.pptx

CNF

1. Analyzing Characters in a Creative Nonfiction Text

2. CHARACTER Unlike in fiction writing, characters in nonfiction are actual people including the writer himself/herself.

3. Characterization a writer’s tool, or “literary device”, that occurs any time the author uses details to teach us about a person. This is used over the course of a story to tell the tale

4. WAYS IN CREATING A CHARACTER

5. 1. DIRECT DESCRIPTION most common If you were the writer, all you need to do is describe the character from your point of view through details that you are familiar with.

6. She stepped down from the carretela of Ca Celin with a quick, delicate grace. She was lovely. She was tall. She looked up to my brother with a smile, and her forehead was on a level with his mouth.

7. 2. Action and Reaction We may also get to know a character’s personality, attitude, beliefs, etc. in the way they behave in a story and in how they react to situations and to other characters.

8. How my bro brought home his wife Father: “Did you meet anybody on the way? he asked. Baldo : “No, Father,” I said. “Nobody passes through the waig at night.” He reached for his roll of tobacco and hitched himself up in the chair. Baldo : “She is very beautiful, Father.” Father: “Was she afraid of Labang ?” Baldo : “No, Father, she was not afraid.” Baldo : “On the way---” Baldo : “She looked at the stars, Father. And Manong Leon sang.” Father: “What did he sing?” “Sky sown with Stars… She sang with him.”

9. That night, as the entire family sang their traditional “Merry Christmas To You” to the happy birthday tune, I felt I was finally getting a fair chance to prove that I was worthy of being in their cozy family.

10. 3. Other Character’s Opinion Other characters in the story may also offer us hints about a person’s characteristics in a story.

11. She stepped down from the carretela of Ca Celin with a quick, delicate grace. She was lovely. She was tall. She looked up to my brother with a smile, and her forehead was on a level with his mouth. "You are Baldo ," she said and placed her hand lightly on my shoulder. Her nails were long, but they were not painted. She was fragrant like a morning when papayas are in bloom. And a small dimple appeared momently high on her right cheek. "And this is Labang of whom I have heard so much." She held the wrist of one hand with the other and looked at Labang , and Labang never stopped chewing his cud. He swallowed and brought up to his mouth more cud and the sound of his insides was like a drum.

12. Example from “The Overcoat” by Nicolai Gogol “No respect at all was shown him in the department. The porters, far from getting up from their seats when he came in, took no more notice of him than if a simple fly had flown across the reception room.”

13. A character’s dialogue can show what kind of person he/she is. The character’s choice of words, manner of talking, the emotions conveyed, etc. say a lot about a person. 4. Dialogue

14. By then, my husband and I had been grappling with our own issues for the past five years. He had gotten tired of my transgressions and sought solace with his friends. After coming home late from another “Happy Hour” with them, I screamed at him, “What happy hour? Nobody is allowed to be happy in this house!”

15. 5. Monologue This refers to a character’s inner thoughts. It is often used to reveal a character’s secret thoughts or intentions. In prose fiction, inner monologue is used more typically to reveal a character’s private impressions, desires, frustrations, or dilemmas. This can be applied to nonfiction as well.

16. I do not know how to comfort her, except to keep saying that we had all done the best we could at the time; that we are always trying to do the right thing; that despite what happened, or perhaps because of it, we will always be a family. Of a kind. We are, after all, inextricably linked by a timeless story and “ sapay koma .”