Indirect Characterization
This is the term for when an author explicitly tells the reader a character's personality, rather than showing it through action.
What is direct characterization?
This is the method of characterization that requires the reader to act like a detective and infer a character's traits.
What is indirect characterization?
The text structure that explains why something happened and what the resulting consequences were.
This is the one-sentence statement that expresses the most important point the author wants to convey about the topic of a text.
What is central idea?
This is the one-sentence summary of the main argument or position of an entire essay, usually placed at the end of the introduction.
What is a thesis statement?
The trait directly stated in the sentence: "Elizabeth, a fiercely independent woman, always paid for her own drinks."
This element of indirect characterization is revealed when we learn a character is a thoughtful person because they volunteer at a soup kitchen every Saturday. (STEAL: speech, thoughts, effect on others, actions, looks)
What is actions?
This type of text structure organizes events in the sequence they happened, often using signal words like first, next, and finally.
What is chronological order?
In a multi-paragraph informational text, the main idea is typically stated most clearly in this paragraph of the text.
What is the introduction/first paragraph?
A strong thesis must make a clear claim and, unlike a topic, it must be this—meaning there is room for disagreement
What is debatable/arguable/synonym?
If an author uses direct characterization to tell us a character is "morally bankrupt," they are describing this kind of characteristic (internal or external).
What is internal characteristic?
In a story where the protagonist is consistently wearing faded, threadbare clothing, the author is indirectly characterizing them using this element, which is the "L" in the S.T.E.A.L. acronym.
An author uses a flashback to interrupt the main sequence of events. Despite this interruption, the structure of the overall narrative remains primarily this.
What is chronological order? (Important to note- just because a flashback interrupts a story does NOT mean it's not chronological)
In an expository essay, the main idea of the entire text is formally presented in the introductory paragraph and is known by this specific term.
What is a thesis?
This is the rhetorical term for the specific group of people or individuals an essay's thesis is intended to persuade or inform.
What is the audience?
If the author repeatedly uses only direct characterization instead of action or dialogue, this is something the character may be described as.
What is flat/boring/shallow/other synonym?
You might infer this from a character who speaks only in formal, overly polite phrases and never uses a contraction.
What is serious/stuffy/well-educated/sophisticated/another synonym (miss elliott will be the judge)?
Signal words like as a result, consequently, and since are key indicators of this text structure.
What is cause-and-effect structure?
These are the specific facts, examples, statistics, or quotations an author provides to validate or explain the main idea of a text
What is text evidence?
Propose a single, precise thesis statement to argue that indirect characterization is more effective than direct characterization.
Miss Elliott will judge
This literary term is used when a narrator provides direct characterization that is later proven to be intentionally false or misleading to the reader.
What is an unreliable narrator? (Note- this was an extra challenge question, this concept will not be on the test)
This literary term describes the complex gap between what a character says (revealing one trait indirectly) and what they do (revealing a contradictory trait indirectly)
What is irony/dramatic irony?
A narrative that alternates between two events happening at the same time is using chronological order in a technique known as this.
What is parallel plot or simultaneous plot? (Note- this was an extra challenge question, this concept will not be on the test)
When a main idea is not explicitly stated in a sentence and the reader must build it from the supporting details, it is referred to as this type of main idea.
What is an implied main idea? (Extra challenge, question, won't be on the test)
Identify the main structural flaw in this proposed thesis for a literary analysis: "In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbols and themes to write about the American Dream."
What is it's not debatable/arguable?