Review of the Related Studies
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with previous elements Gill, 1995, p.148. Thus, setting and social context are important factors in analyzing a character.
Murphy 1972 mentions several examples of ways which the author makes the characters understandable to the readers. According to Murphy, there
are nine ways of characterizing pp. 161-173: a.
Personal description The author directly describes the person
‘s physical appearance such as herhis build, herhis skin-color, herhis hair, and herhis clothes with
various adjectives that make the description more vivid. b.
Character as seen by another The author conveys the
person‘s character through the choice of words and phrases
through another character‘s eyes and opinion so that the reader will get the reflected image of the person.
c. Speech The author gives the reader clue about the person
‘s personality through what the person says and every time the person has conversation with other
characters. d. Past life
The author lets the reader learn about the person ‘s past life events that shape
her character. It can be done by giving direct comments, through the person
‘s inner thought, or through the medium of another character. The person
‘s past life might influence her personality in the present day. e. Conversation of others
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The author gives a clue to the person‘s character through the things other characters say about herhis in conversations when they talk about the
person. f.
Reactions The author gives the reader a clue of the person‘s character through her
reactions on some situations and events in the story. g. Direct comments
The author directly gives comments and descripti on on the person‘s
character. h. Thoughts
The author gives the reader direct information of the person‘s thoughts. The person‘s thoughts might be different with her action in real life.
i. Mannerism
The author describes the person‘s character through her habits and behavior that may tells some information about her character to the readers.