74. System of Images. Means of Characterization.

An image in art is a subjective reflection of reality. It is affected by the writer's power of imagination. Though every image is inspired by life, the writer reflects reality as he sees it.

An image is, on the one hand, a generalization and is never a complete identity of a person, thing or phenomenon. There is always something left out by the writer, and something that is emphasized or even exaggerated. On the other hand, an image in art is concrete with its individual peculiarities.

Since images in art reflect the writer's subjective attitude to them, they are always emotive. In the reader's mind images call up not only visual pictures and other sense impressions, they also arouse feelings, such as warmth, compassion, affection, delight, or dislike, disgust, resentment.

The images of a literary work form a system, which comprises a hierarchy of images, beginning with micro-images (formed by a word or a combination of words) and ending with synthetic images (formed by the whole literary work). Between the lowest level (the micro-images) and the highest level (the synthetic images) there are images which may be termed "extended images".

In literature attention is by far centered on man, human character and human behaviour. That explains why the character-image is generally considered to be the main element of a literary work; the images of things and landscape are subordinated to the character image.

Character-images are both real and unreal. They are real in the sense that they can be visualized, you easily see them act, you hear them talk, you understand and believe them. They are unreal in the sense that they are imaginary. Even if they are drawn from life and embody the most typical features of human nature, even if they are images of historical people, they are not identical with them, and are products of the writer's imagination.

In most stories one character is clearly central and dominates the story from the beginning up to the end. Such a character is generally called the main, central , or major character , or the protagonist. The main character may also be called hero or heгоine, if he or she deserves to be called so.

The antagonist is the personage opposing the protagonist or hero. The villain is the character with marked negative features. Sometimes in a literary work the writer will give us two characters with distinctly opposing features, we then say that one character serves as a foil to the other. The foil is so different that the important characteristics of the opposite personage are thereby sharply accentuated.

If a character is developed round one or several features, he becomes a type or a caricature. A type is characterized by qualities that are typical of a certain social group or class. A caricature is a character so exaggerated that he appears ridiculous and distorted, yet recognizable.

Characters may be simple or соmplex. Simple characters are constructed round a single trait. Complex characters undergo change and growth, reveal various sides of their personalities.

The main character is most relevant in a literary work, since it is through his fate that the message is conveyed. The minor characters are subordinate, they are generally introduced to reveal some aspects of the main character, or his relationship with people.

The writer selects only those descriptions that have special meaning in relation to the message of the story. Depending on the value which details have in fiction, one should distinguish between the so-called artistic details and particularities. The artistic detail is always suggestive. It therefore has a larger meaning than its surface meaning, as it implies a great deal more than is directly expressed by it. An artistic detail acquires expressive force and has both direct and indirect meaning. It is a poetic representation of a whole scene.

Particularities are details that cannot be treated as poetic representations of the whole. They serve to add something new about a character, or place, or event. They are incidental in the sense that it is difficult to explain the writer's choice of this rather than that colour, or time, etc. Nevertheless, particularities are not absolutely irrelevant. They contribute to verisimilitude, as they help to create a realistic picture of a person or event. Particularities are used for representing reality in a concrete form.

Characterization is the description of the different aspects of a character. There are two main types of characterization: direct and indirect. When the author rates the character himself, it is direct characterization. Direct characterization may be made by a character in the story. But when the author shows us the character in action, lets us hear him, watch him and evaluate him for ourselves, the author uses the indirect method of characterization.

The various means of characterization are:

1. Presentation of the character through action. A character in fiction is not just a static portrait, he acts. Since actions, movement, change, development always occur in fiction, action serves as the main means of characterization.

2. Speech characteristics. Speech characteristics reveal the social and intellectual standing of the character, his age, education and occupation, his state of mind and feelings, his attitude and relationship with his interlocutors.

3. Psychological portrayal and analysis of motive. The penetration into the mind of the character, description of his mental processes and subtle psychological changes that motivate his actions, the penetration into his thoughts — all that is an effective means of characterization that writers very often resort to.

4. Description of the outward appearance. In fiction there exist some relationships between the character and his appearance.

5. Description of the world of things that surround the character. The character’s room, clothing and other belongings may also serve as a means of characterization. Domestic interiors of the setting are sometimes treated as metonymic or metaphoric expressions of character.

6. The use of a foil. The writer may introduce a foil as a means of characterization. The foil accentuates the opposed features of the character he is contrasted to.

7. The naming of characters. The naming of characters may also serve as a means of characterization.

The name may be deliberately chosen to fit a certain character.