1. ASManager2.zip Driver
2. j_narrat.txt File Contents

j_narrat.txt Driver File Contents (ASManager2.zip)

Name: <  >
Class: <  >
Date: <  >

Creating Character
Through Narrative

In these activities you are learning about and practicing the use of six basic strategies for developing a character. They are:

1) Description
2) Dialogue
3) Action
4) Reactions of other characters
5) Setting
6) Narrative

This activity focuses on developing characters through Narrative.

In an earlier activity, you described a character's external appearance and mannerisms. From this you implied personality and character. In a Narrative description you explain the personality and character directly. You describe the appearance and actions and reactions of the character and even use bits of dialogue. The Narrative can incorporate all of the other five strategies.

See how many of the six strategies you can find in this passage from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

Behind them hobbled Grandma, who had survived only because she was as mean as her husband. She had held her own with a shrill ferocious religiosity that was as lecherous and savage as anything Grandpa could offer. Once, after a meeting, while she was still speaking in tongues, she fired both barrels of a shotgun at her husband, ripping one of his buttocks nearly off, and after that he admired her and did not try to torture her as children torture bugs. As she walked she hiked her Mother Hubbard up to her knees, and she bleated her terrible war cry: "Pu-raise Gawd for vittory."

1.  List six adjectives used by Steinbeck to describe Granny's character in this narrative.

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2.  Find an incident that was used to illustrate Granny's character in this narrative. Copy that sentence below.

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3.  Delete all except the one set of words that best describes Granny's character.

a. light-hearted, spirited, proud
b. gloomy, pessimistic, sad and fearful
c. intimidating, harsh, pious


Name and save this file now. (Press ctrl+S, type a name for the file, and press enter.)

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This passage is from Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow.

Next order of business: I am a graduate of an Ivy League university -- I see no reason to embarrass my alma mater by naming her. If I hadn't been a Henderson and my father's son, they would have thrown me out. At birth I weighed fourteen pounds, and it was a tough delivery. Then I grew up. Six feet four inches tall. Two hundred and thirty pounds. An enormous head, rugged, with hair like Persian lambs' fur. Suspicious eyes, usually narrowed. Blustering ways. A great nose. I was one of three children and the only survivor. It took all my father's charity to forgive me and I don't think he ever made it altogether. When it came time to marry I tried to please him and chose a girl of our own social class. A remarkable person, handsome, tall, elegant, sinewy, with long arms and golden hair, private, fertile, and quiet. None of her family can quarrel with me if I add that she is a schizophrenic, for she certainly is that. I, too, am considered crazy, and with good reason -- moody, rough, tyrannical, and probably mad. To go by the ages of the kids, we were married for about twenty years. There are Edward, Ricey, Alice, and two more -- Christ, I've got plenty of children. God bless the whole bunch of them.

1.  Choose two sentences from the narrative above which Bellow uses to show Henderson's opinion of himself. Make a copy of those sentences below.

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2.  Delete all except the one set of words that best describes Henderson's character.

a. light-hearted, spirited, proud
b. cumbersome, guilty, ironic
c. perceptive, concerned, amicable


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You've read vibrant descriptions of two memorable characters -- one written in the third person, and one in the first. Now create your own memorable character. You may want to base your character on someone you know, exaggerating personality traits to make the character more memorable.

List five adjectives that describe your character:

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Write a paragraph of at least five sentences that is a narrative description of your character.

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Rewrite and edit your paragraph above. Make sure you have used at least three of the following strategies in your narrative:

Description of your character's physical appearance and mannerisms;

Actions or incidents that illustrate your character's personality;

Reactions of your character to other characters and situations;

Settings that show your character's values and style; and

Dialogue.


If you haven't done so already, name and save this file now. (Press ctrl+S, type a name for the file, and press enter.)

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end of activity
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