Appendix 3. Sample analysis: character portrayal

Apart from obvious basic facts (age, sex, nationality, occupation, social status etc.) and portrait (the description of appearance and clothes), a literary text gives information about the personal traits of the characters and their inner world. This information is essential for the understanding of the main idea of a story.

There are two main ways (methods) in which information about the characters’ personal traits and inner world can be given in a text:

• Direct portrayal (explicit representation). The narrator clearly states something about the character, describes him/her as a person.

E.g. Mr. X. was very greedy.

Madam N. was very kind and generous, but a bit light-minded.

• Indirect portrayal (implicit or dramatic representation). The characters act and speak. The narrator does not state anything about them directly and it is up to the reader to make inferences about their personal traits.

E.g. Mr. X. refused to help his brother when the latter was in dire need. He said “It’s none of my business. You should solve your problem yourself”.

The reader makes an inference that Mr. X was very greedy (cruel, unsympathetic etc.).

• Mixed portrayal (both methods of portrayal are combined).

The two methods may even contradict each other so that the character is revealed in an unexpected way. This may be used for additional dramatic effect.

While making inferences about the characters’ personal traits you may use the vocabulary in Appendix 5 for clues.

The characters may also be:

• main or supporting (secondary, incidental)

• static (not developing) or dynamic (developing)

• flat (one-sided) or round (many-sided, complex)

Character analysis for Text 1 “The Luncheon”

NOTE. It is always advisable to support your inferences about the characters by reasoning based on details taken from the text. You may also use quotes. The analysis (as well as the summary) may be written either in the Past or in the Present tense. The use of tenses should be logical and consistent.

The main characters of the story are the narrator as a young man and a woman who was his guest at the luncheon.

Before the description of the luncheon the narrator gives the portrait of the woman. It is not very detailed, we learn only that she was older than him (about forty), not really attractive, but imposing. As to her manners, she is described as “talkative”. The main feature of her portrait, the one that caught the narrator’s eye at once is that she seemed to have too many teeth, i.e. her teeth were the most prominent feature of her portrait. Here the narrator uses a hyperbole (“she gave me the impression of having more teeth, white and large and even, than were necessary for any practical purpose”). This feature foreshadows the further representation of this character.

Showing the woman’s personal traits the narrator uses indirect method. During the luncheon the woman asked the narrator to order many dishes, choosing the most expensive ones. So she may be described as greedy and gluttonous. She did not understand or did not care that it was difficult for the young writer to pay for this. It was she who asked him to invite her to the first-rate French restaurant. Thus, she demonstrated selfishness and lack of understanding. In the course of the luncheon the woman repeatedly described her eating habits as very moderate (“I never eat more than one thing”) while she considered other people (including the narrator) to eat too much. This is a case of situational irony as the reader sees quite the contrary. This could be interpreted as hypocrisy, but in fact she was just devoid of self-criticism. She did not notice that her words were the contrary of what she was doing. This is proved by the fact that she evidently did not change her habits over the years and when the narrator saw her for the second time she weighed twenty-one stone (133 kilograms).

The woman was obviously shallow and probably stupid. She had a false idea of herself: she flattered herself that she understood literature and art. That is why she wanted to have luncheon with a young writer. However, during their meeting she didn’t say a word about literature, though she was very talkative. She kept talking about food using the same arguments over and over again. She was self-centered and paid little attention to the writer. Her language was very poor and confined to the topic of food.

The woman can be briefly described as greedy, selfish, superficial and uncritical. Therefore, she is a flat character.

She is a static character as neither her habits nor manner of speaking seemed to have changed over the years (though, ironically, her appearance changed because of this).

The narrator as a young man was a writer at the beginning of his career, who earned very little. Describing himself he also uses indirect method. Agreeing to have luncheon at the most expensive restaurant with his reader he was a bit naïve and vain at the same time. He expected the woman to talk about his works and was flattered. He was polite and tactful as he tried not to let her know he was short of money and never hinted at her overeating. He was resourceful because when his means were coming to an end he quickly invented in his mind a way to solve the problem.

The narrator is a dynamic character. As a young man he was inexperienced but from the way he ironically describes this situation later we understand that he had changed. His manner is witty and self-critical. He obviously learned a lesson.