Character Review of Related Theories
things that could influence their thoughts, ideas, judgments about life and society Abrams 20.
E.M Foster in Aspects of The Novel 46-51 says that character can also be categorized as flat or round. Flat character is introduced from the beginning until the
end of the story in the constant condition and unchanged environment. The author can express the flat character just by one sentence and describes him completely. The
advantage of this character is that the readers are able to recognize the character easily whenever he comes out. Since this character does not experience changes, it makes
him easily to remember. While round character is more complex in temperament and motivation. Thus, an author will describe the character like real people who can give
unpredictable actions. Characters can mainly be categorized as major and minor characters. Henkle
88-97 states that major character is created to carry out ideas or messages in a story to readers through the character’s feelings, thoughts, actions, and reactions. Minor or
secondary characters are those who appear in a certain setting as the background to support the major characters. He also says that we should pay our fullest attention to
the major characters in order to comprehend the focal experiences of the novel. He adds that we build expectations and desires upon them to establish our values and to
present convincing dramatizations of the human issues of the book. If they fail in their role then the book essentially fails.
A major character plays an important role in the story supported by one or more minor characters. Though as a supporter, minor characters are considered
important in developing a story. In Writing with A Purpose, Timmer and Sommers state that the minor character may be essential to the main action of a story, or they
may be introduced for some special purpose – to provide comic relief, to act as a mouthpiece for author, or to provide a foil through which some quality of the major
character is emphasized 412. In addition, Henkle 95-99 says that minor characters interact or have conflict
with major characters in order to support the crucial roles of the major characters in the story. He also states that the minor characters are limited in ways that the major
characters are not. They are generally less complex, or less intense, and drawn in shallower relief. Hence, their responses to the experience are less complex and
interesting. Because of their limited human flexibility and range and of their eccentric mold of behavior, their function is to construct a composite picture of the human
condition issued in the novel. Each character in a story has its own characteristics. They have their own
personalities and physical appearances that differentiate them from another character. Timmer and Sommers 411 say that a character is used in two senses in literature.
First, is to identify the people who appear in the story, play, or poem; and second is to describe the personality of any of these people, especially those traits that affect the
development of the work.