1. ASManager2_6.zip Driver
2. i_setdia.txt File Contents

i_setdia.txt Driver File Contents (ASManager2_6.zip)

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



Creating Character
through Setting and Dialogue

In preceding files you learned about the use of setting and dialogue to develop a character. You learned that by describing the setting, you have an indirect way of revealing character. You used a character's reaction to a setting to reveal his character. You learned that how a person says something tells a lot about their character.

In this file, you will write a dialogue for an already created setting. The setting described is from literature. The dialogue is from your imagination.

The setting is from Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Read the passage and feel the mood the author has created.

It was a wild, cold, seasonable night of March, with a pale moon, lying on her back as though the wind had tilted her, and a flying wrack of the most diaphanous and lawny texture. The wind made talking difficult, and flecked the blood into the face. It seemed to have swept the streets unusually bare of passengers, besides; for Mr. Utterson thought he had never seen that part of London so deserted. He could have wished it otherwise; never in his life had he been conscious of so sharp a wish to see and touch his fellow-creatures; for struggle as he might, there was borne in upon his mind a crushing anticipation of calamity. The square, when they got there, was all full of wind and dust, and the thin trees in the garden were lashing themselves along the railing. Poole, who had kept all the way a pace or two ahead, now pulled up in the middle of the pavement, and in spite of the biting weather, took off his hat and mopped his brow with a red pocket-handkerchief. But for all the hurry of his coming, these were not the dews of exertion that he wiped away, but the moisture of some strangling anguish; for his face was white and his voice, when he spoke, harsh and broken.

"Well, sir," he said, "here we are, and God grant there be nothing wrong."

Delete the one word or set of words which is least correct.

1. The setting creates a feeling of:

foreboding
anxiety
curiosity

2. The two characters in the setting are:

fearful
uncertain
composed

3. The nature of the two characters' mission seems to be one of:

duty, responsibility
mercy, compassion


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

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Imagine the two people in this setting. Scroll back to the passage and reread it. Use your imagination to make up answers to the following questions.

Why are the two people here?

Explain why they are in this setting -- where are they going and why.

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Who are they?

Write a brief description of the two characters.

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Write a dialogue between the characters

Continue the dialogue between the two characters. Remember to maintain the mood established by the setting throughout the dialogue. Create at least ten lines of dialogue between the two people. Start writing at the markers at the end of this passage.

It was a wild, cold, seasonable night of March, with a pale moon, lying on her back as though the wind had tilted her, and a flying wrack of the most diaphanous and lawny texture. The wind made talking difficult, and flecked the blood into the face. It seemed to have swept the streets unusually bare of passengers, besides; for Mr. Utterson thought he had never seen that part of London so deserted. He could have wished it otherwise; never in his life had he been conscious of so sharp a wish to see and touch his fellow-creatures; for struggle as he might, there was borne in upon his mind a crushing anticipation of calamity. The square, when they got there, was all full of wind and dust, and the thin trees in the garden were lashing themselves along the railing. Poole, who had kept all the way a pace or two ahead, now pulled up in the middle of the pavement, and in spite of the biting weather, took off his hat and mopped his brow with a red pocket-handkerchief. But for all the hurry of his coming, these were not the dews of exertion that he wiped away, but the moisture of some strangling anguish; for his face was white and his voice, when he spoke, harsh and broken.

"Well Sir," he said, "here we are, and God grant there be nothing wrong."

<  >


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Rewrite/Edit

Add Voice Descriptive Words

Reread the dialogue you wrote above, looking carefully at how your characters speak to each other. If you used the word "said" a lot, you may be able to replace it with more descriptive terms. Can you add anything to the way they speak? For example, describe how their voices sound as they speak. The list below may help you.


sobbed      declared   suggested  argued    cried
questioned  bragged    corrected  inquired  asked
began       called     ordered    wept      sighed
claimed     informed   smiled     blurted   mumbled
observed    warned     snapped    advised   glared
told        reminded   stated     retorted  gulped

Add Actions and Mannerisms

Now make your dialogue even more interesting to read by adding descriptions of actions and mannerisms of your characters as they talk to one another. Try to describe what they do with their hands, how they move, and what their facial expressions are like.

Scroll back to your dialogue and rewrite -- adding details that help the reader see and hear the characters.

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How Stevenson wrote it

If the book is available, read the pages this setting is found in. How did Stevenson continue this scene? Did your imagination come up with some of the same ideas Stevenson did?


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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