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Dirkie reveals her personality as a character in the novel. The second conflict is identified when Geraldine involves in a conflict with Shamie pp. 116-117. The
conflict is raised by a misunderstanding. Geraldine gets angry at Shamie‟s
statement. She thinks that Shamie considers her father as an informant. Geraldine reacts furiously, although it is merely a misunderstanding. She screams, cries, and
yells at Shamie. This reaction reveal s Geraldine‟s personality by showing her
displeasure and her quick-temper. The third conflict is identified when Geraldine involves in a conflict with Shemona p. 85. Shemona shows her disagreement
over Geraldine‟s idea about the baby Jesus, but Geraldine reacts by attacking Shemona. Later, Shemona offers her doll as a substitute of Geraldine‟s baby
Jesus. Knowing that Shemona offers her doll, Geraldine attacks Shemona furiously. This conflict reveals her disruptive and quick-tempered personalities.
Thus, Geraldine is characterized by conflict.
b. Exposition Characterizes Geraldine
According to Meredith and Fitzgerald 1972, an author may reveal a character by presenting some dialogues that contain information about a character.
In Just Another Kid novel, this method is rarely used. The exposition method used to characterize Geraldine is found only in two dialogues. The first dialogue is
Shemona and Hayden‟s. It happens when Shemona tells Hayden about what Geraldine has said, “She says I got to always obey her and do whatever she
wants” p. 189. This dialogue reveals Geraldine‟s control over Shemona. Even though it does not directly state Geraldine‟s personality, Shemona‟s statement
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strengthens Geraldine‟s portrayal as an over-protective elder sister. The second dialogue is Mrs. Lonrho and Hayden‟s p. 91. Hayden discusses Geraldine‟s
vindictive personality with Mrs. Lonrho Geraldine‟s aunt. Then, Mrs. Lonrho tells Hayden that Geraldine is a vindictive girl. This dialogue is different from the
first dia logue; it directly gives information about Geraldine‟s personality.
However, both dialogues give illustrations of Geraldine. Thus, the exposition method reveals Geraldine as a character in Just Another Kid.
c. Description Characterizes Geraldine
This method is frequently used in Just Another Kid novel. Hayden‟s
position lets her to describe other characters in the description freely. Since the novel is an autobiography, Hayden frequently describes other characters in a
direct way. Geraldine is mostly characterized by using the description method. The elaboration entails only three examples of the description method used to
characterize Geraldine. The first is identified when Geraldine arrives in the class for the first time.
Hayden describes Geraldine and Shemona by using description method,
“
Geraldine wore glasses with ghastly pink plastic frames that gave her the look of a fifties housewife […] her dark hair was cut in a short, blunt style that we used to
call a Dutch bob when I was little” p. 15. The first description reveals Geraldine‟s physical appearance. Hayden gives information about Geraldine‟s
physical appearance to introduce Geraldine as one of the characters for the first time. The second description is identified when Hayden elaborates her analysis of
