The Art of Reading People: Character, Expression, Interpretation

Introduction and Overview

Ah, the people we meet in life and literature are often a memorable bunch! We are riveted by their conflicts, enthralled by their secrets, saddened by their losses, and giddy over their happy endings. Yet, seldom do we stop to ponder how we are drawn into a character's life. What techniques are subtly woven into the text? Of course, characters walk hand in hand with conflict while we eavesdrop on their dialogue and scrutinize their innermost thoughts. Meanwhile, authors invite their readers to glimpse the human condition through their characters' struggles, strengths, victories, and defeats. Observing how characters behave, listening to them, and knowing their thoughts allow us to gain insights, make inferences, and appreciate the writer's craft of creating characters. Although we may not always agree with the way the characters address their conflicts, we cannot deny their ability to inform and entertain us. Think of the memorable characters that literature has produced: those who inspired us, those who are too good to be true, and those who show us the dark side of human nature, the villains. Our rich tapestry of multicultural, classic, and contemporary literature has created a cultural legacy of stories that could not exist without this memorable bunch.

This unit will introduce a cast of impressive characters from separate literary works that will become permanently etched in our minds. Even though these characters are separated by time and space they all share a common dynamic character trait: each one evolves radically in the face of adversity. In order to detect the characters' transformation it is necessary that readers become intimately familiar with characterization and all the methods an author uses to develop a character. However, the prerequisite to learning methods of characterization is to glean the characters' traits even when they are not surrounded by plot, dialogue, or other characters. The absence of these literary elements often stymies a reader's ability to discern a character's growth and changes as the story progresses. To counteract this obstacle I have selected characters from different historical periods, from different backgrounds, with distinctly different conflicts that do not end with happily ever after. Adolescent readers will definitely relate to these characters because of the ubiquitous and ageless nature of their conflicts. Not only will readers relate to the characters but they will also glean a character profile of the towns and families that these characters belong to. Consider the following scene from The Help ¹ and note how the author keenly reveals the dark character of the town in what appears to be a humorous incident.

People is driving down, circling round…laughing out loud saying, "look at Hilly's house." ….. Thirty-two commodes!

Miss Skeeter done printed Hilly's toilet announcement in the newsletter alright.

They list them reasons why white folk and colored folk can't be sharing a seat.

Lottie Freeman saw a picture of the toilets in the New York Times and it read,

"home of Hilly and William Holbrook, Jackson, Mississippi."

An initial reading of this passage would evoke laughter from students who would fail to understand that thirty-two commodes symbolize support for segregation in the Deep South. This is the author's skillful approach to presenting Ms. Hilly's speech (via newsletter) and the townsfolks' actions (delivering commodes) to encourage the reader to draw their own conclusions. So, the students must peruse the text with an eye on the method of presentation and how they feel about the issue of segregation. This indirect characterization presents a perfect opportunity for students to experience humor while carefully reflecting on the town and Ms. Hilly's traits.

Typically, careful reflection is not the norm when students are presented a character web. The character web, also known as a graphic organizer, would be presented to analyze Miss Hilly's character traits by what she says, does, and thinks about the toilets being dumped on her front lawn. Students would also be asked to understand and analyze Miss Skeeter's motivation behind the "typo" in the DAR newsletter regarding Miss Hilly's bathroom initiative. Finally, students would be asked to use their analysis of Miss Hilly to write a character sketch of Miss Hilly and Mississippi during the 1960's as part of their writing portfolio. If students are repeatedly expected to analyze character, then why don't students ever encounter the character(s) before they read the story? Is it because a character is thought of only as an element of fiction that figures in the action of a literary work? Or is the absence of supporting elements, such as a plot (action), a narrator, a setting, or a theme compelling students to view characters as one-dimensional?

To deepen students' perspective about characters in fiction and nonfiction texts this unit will introduce them to characters before they read a drama, novel, or short story. Characters will be introduced by way of a prequel or backstory, film excerpts, and artifacts and key passages that directly reveal pertinent information about the character. By meeting characters before a text is read completely, students are motivated to read the entire story to learn more about characters that piqued their interest. Students will make connections among plot, setting, theme, and how they impact the character's development.

This approach to introducing William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet ² and Kathryn Stockett's Aibileen, Miss Hillary and Miss Skeeter in The Help ³ will enable students to examine classic and contemporary characters from the inside out instead of only from outward appearances. It is my belief that in meeting Romeo, Juliet, Marcus Brutus, Aibileen, and Miss Skeeter outside of their stories, students will be able to transcend the hurdles of Shakespeare's complex characters and Mississippi's complex allegiance to "separate and unequal." At the end of their journey is a richly rewarding opportunity for students to discover that character is revealed not only by outward appearances but also by the way the story is told and who is telling it, and who the characters have become as a result of their experiences.

Overall, this unit will teach students that characters can be three-dimensional and are not scattered haplessly in a text—particularly, for example, in non-linear texts where characters seem to randomly appear and disappear until they are mentioned again at a later point in the story. Students will gain a deep understanding of how and why characters are created, and the necessity of scrutinizing them from all dimensions. This understanding will result in their being able to proficiently analyze the author's use of characterization as a literary element.