3. Theory of Characterization
In order to be able to analyze characters in the novel, it is necessary to know characterization, which explains about how the characters are presented by the author
in the story. In Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students, Murphy 1972 states that there are nine ways
to understand how the characters presented by the author in the story. They are: 1
Personal description The author can describe a person‟s appearance or clothing. The author can
describe clearly using his skillful voice about what the characters look like and he can also tell the readers about the characters in details pp. 161-162.
2 Characters as seen by another
The author can describe a character through the opinions, attitudes, views and comments of other characters instead of describing a character by himself.
The readers will catch a reflected image of the characters the author means p.162.
3 Speech
The author can explain a character through the way she or he speaks and the language she or he uses in a conversation with another, whenever she or he puts
forward an opinion, so readers will get an insight into the characteristics pp.164- 166.
4 Past life
Using the past life the author can present a clue to events that help to shape characteristics by giving the readers the character‟s past life. This is reasonably
helpful to analyze the motives that a character has when he has a particular characteristic or does something extraordinary p.166.
5 Conversation of others
The author can provide an explanation about a character through the conversation of other characters and what they say about him or her. Through
this, the readers will learn that what others say about the character may reveal what kind of character he or she is pp.167-168.
6 Reactions
The author can describe the characteristics by displaying the way a character‟s responses or reactions to various situations and events in a story. The reaction
may give a clue to what characteristics a character owns pp.168-170.