Content

• Steps
• Advice

To learn how to write a character analysis, you need to read the work of literature carefully and note what the author reveals about the character through the dialogue, progression, and plot of the story. Literary analysts will write about the role of each character in the work. The protagonist is the most important, and the villain plays in a conflict with the protagonist known as the villain. Great writers often create facets of characters, so the character analysis should focus on this complexity. Here are a few things to keep in mind when writing character analysis.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Getting Started

1. 

   Choose your character. For the character analysis assigned by the school, you will probably be assigned a character to analyze. But if you do, you should only consider the characters who play an active role in the story. The characters have too simple personalities (one-way personality - people completely good either completely bad has no complicated motives to consider) not good options for character analysis.
   • For example, if you intend to analyze a character in a classic novel Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, you might consider choosing Huck or Jim, a runaway slave, because those are motivational characters, displaying a variety of emotions and often having unpredictable actions, thereby creating acting. turn of the plot.
   • Perhaps the character analysis will be less effective if you choose the character of the duchy or the king, the two swindlers that Huck and Jim met in Arkansas, because they only play a relatively minor role in the story, they don't signify. shows a variety of emotions, and most of all, it's just characters additional (the story needs a funny turn and an excuse for Jim and Huck to separate, from which Huck has had a timeless moment. Alright, I'm ready to go to hell!in which the public district and the king fill this role).

2. 

   
   
   Read the story and pay attention to the character you chose. Even if you have read the work before, you still need to reread, because you will find new details related to the task that you are keeping in mind. Pay attention to every place in the story where your character appears and consider the following:
   • How do the authors describe them?
     • For example, with character Huck FinnYou can think of how the author describes Huck, a boy who was born and raised in a remote area but clearly struggled with big problems and related to communal problems. Complex societies like slavery and religion.
   • What are the relationships between that character and the other characters?
     • Think about what kind of relationship Huck is with Jim, a runaway slave, both in the beginning and at the end. Think about Huck's relationship with his tyrannical father, and how that shaped his character.
   • How did the character actions impact the plot?
     • Huck is the main character, so it's obvious that your actions are important. But what's so special about Huck's way of acting? What made your decisions different from others in the same situation? You can talk about how Huck decided to save Jim from the people who intended to pay him back, because he thought slavery was wrong, even though this thought goes against everything he did. is taught.
   • What difficulties did your character face?
     • Think how Huck has grown and wiser throughout the story.At the beginning of the series, he gets caught up in tactics (such as playing death); however, Huck later knows to avoid the scams he sees (like when Huck tries to get rid of the crooks, the shepherd and the king).

3. 

   
   
   Note. Note down any important elements that help to depict the main character more deeply when you read the story for the second time. Make side notes and underline important passages.
   • You can also keep a journal to keep track of your thoughts about the character while reading the story.

4. 

   
   
   Choose the main idea. Gather all your notes about the character and try to think of the main idea in relation to those notes. This will be the thesis statement for the character analysis. Think about their actions, their motivations, and the outcome of the story. Maybe your thesis statement is about how a character represents a growing boy struggling with difficulties, or about human honesty. Maybe your character shows the reader that no matter how big a mistake people make, they still have the ability to redeem them and deserve to be forgiven.
   • In the example about Huck FinnYou can point out the hypocrisy of civilized society, because in essence, the novel is about a boy raised with the thought of supporting slavery, but through his experiences as he walks along. River with Jim, he has known to respect Jim as a human and see him as a friend, not treat him like a slave. Similarly, it was Huck's father who captured and turned Huck into a "slave". The situation prompted Huck to flee and sympathize with Jim's desire to seek freedom. Society at that time viewed Huck's escape as fair and ethical, but Jim's escape was a serious sin against the urban population. This contradiction is at the heart of the story.

5. 

   Outline. Once you have decided on the main idea of ​​your analysis, you need to create a brief outline of your evidence. Make a note of each place in the paragraph with the character representing the personality you have chosen to highlight in your thesis statement. Adding more evidence can help analyze the character further.
   • Outline organizes ideas and helps you maintain a stream of thinking as you write your analysis.
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Part 2 of 3: Character analysis

1. 

   Write an introduction. Always keep the topic in mind, prepare an introduction to the character you have chosen and the role of the character in the work.
   • The introduction should state the topic of the analysis, reveal enough information, be interesting to the reader and the thesis statement.

2. 

   Describe the character's appearance. Depicting a character's outward appearance and showing off what the character's appearance reveals about who they are. Remember to quote or interpret directly from the work.
   • Think about Huck's ragged clothes and the details about the boy's personality. Discuss how Huck dresses up as a little girl for city news and how this change of appearance affects your analysis of Huck.

3. 

   Discuss the character's background. If you have the information, please include in the analysis the details of the character's biography (some details may be inferred). A character's biography cannot help but affect their individuality and their character development, so it is important to discuss the character's biography, if you can. When / when was the character born and raised? What education do they receive? How have the characters' past experiences influenced their words and actions?
   • Talk about the relationship between Huck and his father, between him and his widow Douglas and Miss Watson, who took care of Huck. How did these characters influence Huck's development? The contrast between Huck's alcoholic father and the conservative ladies who later took care of him is a continuum of social behavior for you to analyze and reflect on Huck's beliefs / actions. about what is in that continuity.

4. 

   Refers to the character's language. Analyze the language the character uses throughout the work. Does the character use the same language from start to finish or does it change from the beginning to the end?
   • Huck is a mischievous boy and often speaks in a way that Mrs. Douglas is not pleased with. He also tried very hard to obey her and behave properly when in church but then make mistakes often, and through his actions and words, he identified himself as a person less than the polite way he was trying. acting or as the widow wished.

5. 

   Write about your character's personality. Is the character acting based on emotion or reason? What value did the character show through his words and actions? Does the character have purpose and ambition? Be specific and remember to cite or make suggestions from the work.
   • Huck Finn tries to follow social norms, but in the end he acts on emotion. He decides to save Jim from being sent back to his master, even if this is against the law, because he believes that Jim doesn't deserve to be treated like a slave. Huck made his own decisions against the values ​​that society taught him.

6. 

   Analyze the character's relationships with other characters. Think about how your characters interact with others in the story. Is the character a pioneer or follower? Does the character have close friends or family? Please use references from the work to include in your analysis.

7. 

   Describes character changes and maturation throughout the work. Most of the main characters will experience conflicts throughout the course of the story. Some conflicts come from outside (due to external forces that the character cannot control, or circumstances and people around them), while some conflicts take place within the nucleus. self (self-struggle when the character has to deal with his own emotions or actions). Get better or worse in the end? The characters that make the impression are often changed or matured in valuable works.
   • Huck's external conflict lies in all the events that happened on his journey along the river - journey troubles, unfortunate incidents along the way, caught up in scandals and conspiracies, etc ... Huck's inner conflict reached its climax when he decided to help Jim escape from slavery. This is a very important moment in the pure, when Huck does what his heart tells instead of his social sense.

8. 

   Gather the evidence for the analysis. Be sure to provide concrete examples from the work to support your arguments about the character. Include citations to support your argument, if possible. If the author describes a character with a sloppy appearance, you should provide specific details that show this character's trait, quote or paraphrase the work directly. advertisement

Part 3 of 3: Use evidence in your essay

1. 

   
   
   Support your writing with references from your work. This means that you should include quotes from the work you are analyzing to support the points you make in your article.
   • The quotes from the work increase the credibility of the article and will support your arguments more effectively.

2. 

   
   
   Using PIE method. In English, these are the abbreviations for Point (to show), Illustrate (to demonstrate) and to Explain (to explain), which means that you will point out, prove (with a quote from the work) and explain. about how those citations support what you have stated.
   • For example, you could write the following: Huck Finn discovered his whole new self while rafting in the river. He insisted that "On such large rafts, the carrier must be very valuable." This describes the freedom and pride that the boy associated with the raft.

3. 

   
   
   Attach quotes to your own words. Quotes should never stand alone in your essay. You need to use your own words to "stick" the quote to your sentence before or after the quote.
   • Sai: "On large rafts like this, a carrier must be very valuable.’
   • Right: You definitely think "On large rafts like this, the carrier must be very valuable."
   • Right: "On large rafts like this, the carrier must be very valuable," Huck insisted.

4. 

   Don't quote too much. Your word should make up 90% of the analysis, and the other 10% should be direct citations. Essays using too many quotes seem lazy and ineffective, and will probably receive poor grades. advertisement

Advice

• Write a draft first to gather your analysis ideas before editing your essay for submission.
• Use the specifics of your work to support all of your points.
• Organize your analysis very carefully. Write an interesting introduction to the reader. Make sure each paragraph is consistent and revolves around a main theme. Connect your work with the perfect conclusion.
• The characters also have negative points. You should analyze those traits to give a deeper insight into the character's personality.