Characterization

=**Characterization**=

Philip Wu

Characterization is the conveying of information about characters in literature. Characters are usually portrayed through their actions, speech, thoughts, and description. Characterization helps the reader form an impression of the character, using factors including but not limited to: appearance, age, gender, educational level, vocation or occupation, financial status, marital status, social status, cultural background, hobbies, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ambitions, motivations, and personality. The process of characterization helps in character development, and well-characterized characters are complex and realistic, as opposed to under-characterized ones which are "flat" and often stereotypical.

There are two types of characterization: Direct and Indirect. Direct characterization: The reader is directly told about the character's traits. Indirect characterization: The reader must infer the character's traits through what is implied by the author in the character's actions, words, and thoughts.

Examples of characterization:

In __The Stranger__ by Albert Camus, the protagonist Meursault is characterized as a man lacking emotion, indifferent to events that occur in his life. The author does this through indirect characterization: we, as the reader, deduce his character traits through his speech (indifference toward his mother's death) and actions (killing of the Arab without remorse).

In __Chronicle of a Death Foretold__ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Santiago Nasar is characterized through both direct and indirect characterization. The narrator, Santiago's friend, tells us of his love of falconry and firearms, horses, and that he was the child of a marriage of convenience. From dialogue and his actions in the novel, we can reasonably infer that he is wealthy, a womanizer, and that he never knew the reason of his death.