Character Analysis Instructions

Character Analysis

Due Date __________________

You are responsible for an essay that is a character analysis of the protagonist of the book. A character analysis shows how a character changes throughout the work, and what forces and decisions cause those changes. The essay should be 550-700 words. There should be multiple -- more than three (3) – quotes with citations from the book. Because you are writing about one book by one author, the format is quite simple. At the end of the sentence with a quotation, inside the period is the page number within parenthesis. For example: Elie tells us early in the book, “that every question possess[es] a power that [does] not lie in the answer” (2).

You will need to include a bibliography as part of your citation system. The bibliography should follow the MLA (Modern Language Association) style: Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Bantam Books. 1960.

Don’t miss the hanging indent, any of the punctuation marks or italics or underlining for the title. Each period and punctuation mark is crucial. The first body paragraph of your essay should be a general summary of the setting and plot of the book. Write the essay for a reader who may not be familiar with the work you are reading. The second body paragraph ought to describe the initial state of the character being examined. What kind of person is he or she. How do we know this. A quote that you use here might be a direct characterization, a fact stated by the author. Or an indirect characterization, one implied by the actions or reactions of other characters in the book. Below are two examples. Note that each quote is introduced, in quotation marks, or block indented, and followed by a parenthetical citation, and an explanation of the quote. We learn early in the book, “Bob was always hungry; at Tuesday’s lunch he at three chops” (3). Though three chops might not seem a lot, it is important to recognize, that one of the chops was taken off the plate of a blind lady. Bob’s gluttony shows no limits early in the book. We also learn about Bob from the way people respond to him. Early in the book, he walks into a room at a party: When Bob walked into the room. Everyone froze in place. Everyone tried to look anywhere but at his eyes. His eyes glowed like embers, but his presence sucked the heat from the room. Eventually one little girl began to cry softly. (14) Wherever he went, Bob frightened people. He might not have intended to, but he did.

Subsequent body paragraphs ought to show how the character changes over the course of the novel, and what forces cause the character to change over the course of the novel. Finally, the conclusion ought to relate the character’s changes to overall themes of the novel.

Zartler 2008