Importance of Characterization
Importance of Characterization
How can introducing characters to the reader play an essential role in the story? There’s no doubt that the characters are important in fiction because the make events happen, so the way of introduce them to the reader surely makes a difference. Besides that, characters can be introduced to the reader not only by direct statements but also by what they do, say or think, by how other characters see them, by their names, by their appearance and also through dialogues. These are called the techniques of characterization. In order to make it clearer, we will talk about the two stories: James Joyce’s Araby and James Hurst’s The Scarlet Ibis. Araby is a short story about a guy who used to be insanely in love with a girl and then he was disappointed when he faced the reality and realized it was too good to be true, while the Scarlet Ibis is a short story about a guy whose pride has won over his love to his brother. The techniques of characterization used in these two stories and the changes that happened to the main characters (protagonists) will be discussed below. First, let’s start analyzing the conflict in James Joyce’s Araby. As mentioned, it’s a short story narrated by an adult talking about how he was suddenly introduced to the adulthood and how it was different from his expectations. The protagonist in this story had that “confused adoration” for a girl which took him far away from reality, and this can be noticed in many of his statements just as describing his body as “A harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires” (Joyce 110). When the girl first talked to him she told him about a Bazaar called Araby and her desire to attend but could not. Because he was a “foolish blood”, he thought that she had feelings for him too, this made him go far away with his imagination, but then, when he went to the bazaar, he was shocked with the objective reality and the materialism of the modern world. The
How can introducing characters to the reader play an essential role in the story? There’s no doubt that the characters are important in fiction because the make events happen, so the way of introduce them to the reader surely makes a difference. Besides that, characters can be introduced to the reader not only by direct statements but also by what they do, say or think, by how other characters see them, by their names, by their appearance and also through dialogues. These are called the techniques of characterization. In order to make it clearer, we will talk about the two stories: James Joyce’s Araby and James Hurst’s The Scarlet Ibis. Araby is a short story about a guy who used to be insanely in love with a girl and then he was disappointed when he faced the reality and realized it was too good to be true, while the Scarlet Ibis is a short story about a guy whose pride has won over his love to his brother. The techniques of characterization used in these two stories and the changes that happened to the main characters (protagonists) will be discussed below. First, let’s start analyzing the conflict in James Joyce’s Araby. As mentioned, it’s a short story narrated by an adult talking about how he was suddenly introduced to the adulthood and how it was different from his expectations. The protagonist in this story had that “confused adoration” for a girl which took him far away from reality, and this can be noticed in many of his statements just as describing his body as “A harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires” (Joyce 110). When the girl first talked to him she told him about a Bazaar called Araby and her desire to attend but could not. Because he was a “foolish blood”, he thought that she had feelings for him too, this made him go far away with his imagination, but then, when he went to the bazaar, he was shocked with the objective reality and the materialism of the modern world. The