1. ASManager2.zip Driver
2. B_DES1.txt File Contents

B_DES1.txt Driver File Contents (ASManager2.zip)

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

Creating Character through Description 1

In these files you will learn about and practice the use of six basic strategies for developing character. They are:

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

This file focuses on developing characters through description.

By describing a person's external characteristics, such as dress, posture, mannerisms, carriage, stature, etc., you can often depict inner character.

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Here is a description of Helen from the point of view of the character herself. The passage is from The Trouble with Tuck by Theodore Taylor. Helen is describing a family portrait of herself and her two dogs.

Anyone examining that picture can see I was not very pretty, to say the least. My mouth was too large for my jaw. My nose was puggy and freckled. My grin exposed crooked teeth with wire braces on them. I was wearing glasses, as I do now. Oh, how I hated those glasses and the mean braces. Not helping the above appearance, I was painfully skinny, with knobby knees and sharp elbows. Back then, girls did not wear jeans very often, and there was no way to hide my spindly legs. I was often ashamed of them.

Roundly cheated by nature, I was understandably shy and sometimes stayed in a shell of my own making. When I came out, I did something that almost drove everyone crazy. I whistled. Oh, how I whistled. I whistled indoors and out until one or another member of the Ogden family would shout, "Will you stop it, Helen?"

Most of the time, I didn't even realize I was whistling. I'd stop, but then I'd start again, unawares. The constant tweeting was a habit, like chewing fingernails, and a psychologist had told my parents something I wasn't supposed to know: I had no self-confidence, and that's why I whistled. Did he really think I didn't know I lacked confidence?

What made it all worse was the fact that both Stan and Luke were handsome and fine athletes, while I was cloddish-looking and about as coordinated as a day-old ostrich.

Truly, there were moments when I gazed into the mirror at my wide mouth and brick-red hair, not that fine auburn stuff my mother had on her head, and wondered where I had come from. There were moments when I wanted to die, like the moment I was carrying Luke's eleventh birthday cake into the dining room, singing the birthday anthem, and stumbled. I went face-first into the icing and candles. Only in the movies is that supposed to happen.

Excerpted from The Trouble with Tuck by Theodore Taylor. Reprinted by permission of the author and the Watkins/Loomis Agency. 

Mr. Taylor has his character describe herself as an uncoordinated, self-conscious and homely person. He uses a description of an incident where Helen falls with a birthday cake to further develop this image.

Please reread the passage and see if you can find language and ways in which Mr. Taylor was able to paint such a good portrait of his character, Helen.

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


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Below are several sentences from the passage which describe Helen's physical appearance.


One

"Not helping the above appearance, I was painfully skinny, with knobby knees and sharp elbows."


Two

"What made it all worse was the fact that both Stan and Luke were handsome and fine athletes, while I was cloddish-looking and about as coordinated as a day-old ostrich."


Three

"Truly, there were moments when I gazed into the mirror at my wide mouth and brick-red hair, not that fine auburn stuff my mother had on her head, and wondered where I had come from."

Now complete the same sentences by creating descriptions of similar characteristics for yourself, a person you are acquainted with, or a person you imagine. All of Helen's descriptions are negative. You can write descriptions of attractive characteristics. You can change the sentence beginning, too. Begin writing at the markers.


One

Not helping the above appearance, I was < >.


Two

What made it all worse was the fact that < >, while I was
< >.


Three

Truly, there were moments when I gazed into the mirror
< > .


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Personal Traits and Habits Which Reveal Character

Authors will describe a character's habits and mannerisms to help establish a certain personality. Below is a paragraph from the passage describing a personal habit of Helen's which reveals her self-conscious and nervous nature.

Roundly cheated by nature, I was understandably shy and sometimes stayed in a shell of my own making. When I came out, I did something that almost drove everyone crazy. I whistled. Oh, how I whistled. I whistled indoors and out until one or another member of the Ogden family would shout, "Will you stop it, Helen?"

Pick out a personality you are familiar with, such as a friend, relative, or imaginary person. Try to describe some personal habit or trait of that person which reveals their personality. Model your description of that trait after the description of Helen's nervous whistle.

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Taking a Different Viewpoint

The final paragraph in this passage describes an incident that is extremely embarrassing for anyone with Helen's personality. The passage is reproduced below. Rewrite the passage as if it were being described by someone who is self-confident and reacts to the accident with good humor and gaiety. First, you need to imagine yourself as that person. Then describe the same incident in a positive way.

There were moments when I wanted to die, like the moment I was carrying Luke's eleventh birthday cake into the dining room, singing the birthday anthem, and stumbled. I went face-first into the icing and candles.

Your rewrite:

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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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