Direct characterization

Direct characterization should, whenever possible, be presented gradually, for the obvious reason that exposition and description of any length interrupt a narrative, and thus interfere with the rapid move 
ment of a story. A few words of description or of exposition here and there throughout a story will not thus interfere at all, and by developing one's idea of character little by little may produce an illusion of reality. One may learii to know a char¬acter as one knows a friend; each new sight will add to the conception. For several paragraphs in Markheim there is no direct characterization of the dealer. Then one is told that " . . the little pale, round-shouldered dealer stood almost on tiptoe, looking over the top of his gold spectacles, and nodding his head with every mark of disbelief." Four paragraphs later, one is told of his "dry and biting voice." Conversation continues for some time before one sees his "thin blond hair falling over his eyes." After the murder, we hear that his clothes were poor and miserly and that the body looked "strangely meaner than in life." Sarah Penn is characterized directly near the beginning of The Revolt of Mother in a paragraph partly descrip¬five, partly expository. Later, a paragraph is de¬voted to describing her as a model housekeeper. This paragraph seems almost to interrupt the narrative. In another place she is mentioned as having "a patient and steadfast soul." Again it is said, "She stood in the door like a queen; she held her head as if it bore a crown; there was that patience that makes authority royal in her voice." At the time of the minister's call, "The saintly expression of her face remained fixed, but there was an angry flush over it." Such is the gradual method of direct delineation. The method of a long unbroken description may, of course, be used, but with less certainty of effectiveness. If it is used, the character may be most naturally presented near the beginning, before the narrative is well under way, and before the reader has himself shaped the character in his imagination.
Effectiveness in direct characterization may be secured, too, if the statements in regard to a char¬acter, instead of being expressed by the writer, can be put into the mouth of a narrator-character or of some character of a dialogue. A narrative setting may thus be given which will go far to bridge over any apparent break. Mr. Theobald is seen through the eyes of the narrator-character, and again through those of Mrs. Coventry and of the Signora Serafina. Jimmy Wells, first described by the writer as a typical guardian of the peace, is later characterized by Bob as a friend. Miss Florence is directly described by the narrator-character of They:
"The garden door — of heavy oak sunk deep in the thickness of the wall — opened. A woman in a big garden-hat set her foot slowly on the hollowed stone step and as slowly walked across the turf. I was forming some sort of apology when she lifted up her head and I saw that she was blind."
Later he says, "She stood looking at me with open blue eyes in which no sight lay, and I saw for the first time that she was beautiful." Delineated thus
in relation to the narrator, she seems not like a wooden figure set up for us to look at, but a living human being. The description is a part of the narrative itself.
category:character