Characterization in Novel

CHARACTERIZATION IN NOVEL:

“Novel is a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length in which realistic characters and events are presented in a complex plot.” Novel represents the events from real life and society. Novel presents man’s struggle against different forces – both natural and unnatural. Hence, novel cannot exist without characters. The word character refers to the people, animals, or objects which build the story line in the novel.

WHAT MAKES CHARACTERS IMMORTAL?

Pip in ‘Great Expectations’, Santiago in ‘Old Man And The Sea’, Harry Potter in ‘Harry Potter’, Elizabeth Bennett in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ are some of the immortal characters of English literature. A successful novelist is one who projects the most appealing and moving characters in his novels. But the question is, “How does a novelist create such immortal characters?” Let’s discuss this.

Firstly, the men and women presented in novel must be realistic and lively. They must possess a substantial quality of life. They must be life like. They must look like creatures of flesh and blood.

Secondly, the characters must deal with common experience. They must share our own life experiences. This brings in the reader a feeling of intimacy for the characters.

Thirdly, the characters must show realistic psychology. The heart that throbs in the character must carry our own emotions and passions. This gives us an illusion of reality.

ART OF CHARACTERIZATION:

The novelist uses a variety of techniques to introduce and develop the characters in his works. Characterization is a name for the methods a writer uses to reveal a character’s values, feelings, goals, etc. to readers. When revealing a character’s traits, a writer can do so using direct characterization or indirect characterization. 

DIRECT METHOD:

Direct method of characterization is when a writer conveys information about a character by telling the information directly to the reader. Here, the novelist directly narrates the characters and tells the reader things about the character. For example, the writer might tell us: 

“John was the poorest member among his colleagues.” 

In this instance we get some knowledge of John’s economic condition in relation to his colleagues. Direct characterization makes it easy for readers to gain clear understanding about the character. In short, we get the knowledge about the characters through the novelist and we see the life of the characters through the eyes of the novelist only.

INDIRECT METHOD:

Indirect method of characterization occurs when the author shows the character in action, and leaves it to the reader to interpret what these actions reveal about the character. For example, the author may write:

“John did not have any money to buy a gift for his wife” 

Here, the readers indirectly gain the knowledge about John’s condition and interprets that John was so poor that he could not even buy a gift for his wife. 

TOOLS TO DEVELOP THE CHARACTERS:

There are a number of tools that a writer will use to impart personality traits to their characters. These tools include the following:

• Character’s Name: Names convey images. If a character has a strong name, readers interpret the character in a favorable way. If a character has a weak or undesirable name, then the character seems weak and is viewed less favorably by readers. Examples: The Iron Man (Strength), Hamlet (Procrastination)

• Character’s Looks: If a character is physically attractive, readers will perceive the character in a more favorable way than if the character were unattractive. How often do you remember the hero in a story being short, weak, ugly, or overweight? It would be a rare occurrence to have such a protagonist. 

• Character’s Job: Readers make assumptions about characters based on the work that they do. If the character is a fry cook in a diner, the readers will make different assumptions about the character than they would if the character is a neurosurgeon. In the one case, the character may be interpreted as uneducated, poor, or unambitious. In the other case, the character might be assumed to be quite intelligent, financially successful, and ambitious. 

• Character’s Appearance: The novelist tries to create the images of his characters in our mind by describing the appearance, clothing etc of the characters.  

• Character’s Habits/Actions: A character’s behavior can reveal a lot about a character. For instance, if a character bites his nails, we might interpret the character as nervous or lacking in confidence. Remember the saying, “Actions speak louder than works.” 

• Character’s Dialogues: What characters say about others can tell readers a great deal about what the character is like. Both what the characters say and how they say it should be considered. 

• Character’s Thoughts: What a character is thinking to himself can also reveal the character’s personality in much the same way dialogues can. A character’s thoughts are like an inner dialogue. 

By correctly interpreting the characterization tools used by an author, readers can arrive at clear understanding of what characters in stories are like. 

CHARACTER AGAINST DIFFERENT FORCES:

 Novel becomes interesting only when the characters are put into some conflict, both internal and external. They are presented as putting a courageous fight against various forces, both natural and unnatural. It is through this fight and struggle only that they develop and win our admiration in the novel. 

DYNAMIC & STATIC CHARACTERS:

Often, as characters deal with the problems they face in a story, the character will learn a lesson or change his/her behavior as a result of story events. When a character undergoes a change in values, beliefs, or behaviors as a result of his/her experiences, we refer to that character as a dynamic character. The protagonist in a story is usually a dynamic character. 

In some cases, however, a character is unaffected by the experiences he/she undergoes. When a character remains unchanged by his/her experiences that character is referred to as a static character. Often the minor characters and the antagonists in a novel are found to be static. Sometimes the protagonist will be static if the story is more driven by plot (events) than by character. 

It is important to remember that only in stories can people be static. In real life people are always changing, often unwillingly, because of the things they encounter in life.

Click to watch a video lecture.