2.2 Character Analysis: Traits and Feelings
2.2 Character Analysis: Traits and Feelings
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Identify the feelings and traits of the characters using textual evidence
A. Who are Characters in a Story?
Stories have characters who are people, animals, or things that have been given human qualities. Characters are affected by the plot or setting of the story.
B. What is Character Analysis?
We analyse characters in a story to identify their traits (physical traits and personality traits), and feelings (emotions and responses)1.
C. Why Do We Analyse Characters?
We analyse characters so that:
1. We can better understand the character and connect with the character.
2. It helps us to understand the story as a whole.
D. What are Character Feelings and Emotions?
Character’s feelings are the emotions they have in response to a specific situation. They can change over time.
E. What are Character Traits?
Character traits are words we use to describe someone. These words might describe the way someone looks (physical characteristics) or describe their personality (inner qualities).
1. Physical Traits:
Physical traits also known as external traits, tell us what the character in a story looks like.
Example:
Is the character tall/short?
What is the character’s hair colour or type?
What is the eye colour?
What kind of features does he/she have?
What does the person usually wear2?
2. Personality Traits:
Personality traits also known as internal traits, tell us about the qualities of a character.
Example:
positive attributes like being thoughtful, friendly, selfless
negative attributes like being mean, selfish, unkind2
Here is a sample list of the character traits. Can you think of one internal and one external character trait to describe your closest friend?
F. How Do We Identify Character’s Personality Traits?
While we analyse the character, we can think FAST! This will help us delve deep into the character's Feelings, Actions, Speech, and Thoughts1.
We identify personality traits by making inferences on the basis of feelings, thoughts and actions of a character.
Making inferences is a reading strategy which helps us understand what the author means in the text based on what the character says, does, thinks or feels.
It allows us to read or see what the author has written and connect it to what we know about the world in general to come up with a logical answer.
For instance, if the author says: He was always ready to answer any question his teacher posed, but he would forget to raise his hand first. We can infer from his responses and actions that a trait of the character is excited5.
The FAST Approach!
Analysing the character in a story, helps us to infer their traits. We can draw inferences based on the textual evidence2.
G. What is the Difference Between:
Characters’ Personality Traits and Characters’ Feelings
Can you think of some words that describe how someone acts (character traits), and some words that describe how someone might feel (character feelings)? Check if you can sort them into two different lists below by clicking to drag and drop each item into its correct group.
Glossary
Glossary
trait: a quality that is a part of a person’s personality
analysis: a way to understand things in more detail by looking at all the different parts and information
infer: to figure something out or make a guess based on the information you have
motive: the reason behind someone's behaviour or actions
Summary:
Summary:
1. Character traits are words we use to describe someone. They are of 2 types: physical and personality traits.
Physical traits also known as external traits, tell us what the character in a story looks like. Example: tall, black hair, green t-shirt
Personality traits also known as internal traits, tell us about the qualities of a character. Example: thoughtful, friendly, selfish
2. Readers determine character’s personality traits by noticing what how they think, how they behave, how they speak or how they think.
3. A character’s feelings help a reader understand why a character does or says something in a particular moment. Example: happy, angry, calm, excited, sad
References
1 How to Complete a Character Analysis. Ace Study Guides (2020) (link)
2 Character Unit: Character Traits and FAST Characterization. Reading with Mrs. Carter (2016) (link)
3 Character Motivation. BCCS Boys (2020) (link)
4 How to Write a Character Analysis. A Research Guide for Students (n.d.) (link)
5 Identifying Character Traits. ReadWriteThink (n.d.) (link)
6 Character Feelings vs. Traits. Tulsi Griffiths (n.d.) (link)
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