Motivation Definition of Terms
personal description. The author may portray a person’s character based on appearance and clothes. He can tell the details of the character’s appearance such
as face, skin, body, hair and clothes. The readers may see the character’s appearance by looking at the person’s clothes.
The second way is character as seen by another. The author may also describe the character through the eyes and opinion of others instead of describing
the character directly. He represents the character’s performance and personality by letting other characters in the story convey to their readers what they are like
based on the character that they encounter. The readers may gain the description as a reflected image.
The third way is speech. The author describes one of the characters in the story through what he says. Whenever the character speaks or states an opinion,
he is giving some clues to his character. The fourth way is past life. The author may give the past life of one
character in the story in order to understand the character. He gives some events that have helped to shape a person’s character by learning something from
someone’s past life in the story. He may reveal a person’s character by giving direct comment, through the person’s thought, through conversation with others or
the medium of another person. The fifth way is conversation with others. The author may give clues to the
readers in order to show the person’s character through conversation with other characters. People often talk about other people. And the matter of the
conversation can give us reference to the person’s character.
The sixth way are reactions. The character often reacts to various situations and events which may reveal his character. Using this kind of
characterization, the author presents a clue to the readers who might expect to find the quality of the characters in dealing with situations and events they encounter.
The seventh way is direct comment. On one occasion, the author may give comments explicitly about his characters and gives his opinion about the character
in the story. In other words, he has a possibility to describe or comment on a person’s character directly.
The eighth way is thought. The author is able to give readers direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. Here, he is able to reveal the
inmost thoughts of a person as if he were the secret listener. The last way is mannerism. The author may describe a person’s
mannerism or habits which may also tell readers something about hisher character. He can reveal the character’s habits both the positive and negative ones.