For the Section 2 Discussion Board, I would like you to go back to the pdf on Character in the Section 1 folder. After you have reacquainted yourself with the terminology discussed there, I would like you to write an analysis of the characters found in the stories we have read in this section. Are they flat or round? Stock characters, foils, or sterotypes?
Once you have identified the characters and explained the reasoning behind your decisions, I would then like you to consider the authors’ style of characterization. Do they use direct or indirectstyles of characterization? Both? Please give properly cited examples from the text to provide evidence for your choices.
If you are having trouble discerning between direct and indirect characterization, please also see the discussion of “Levels of Meaning” in the pdf on Style in Section 1. Denotation is when information is given directly. An example would be if an author told us, “Bill had a terrible temper”. Connotation is when the information is implied or revealed indirectly. An example would be if an author provided a scene where we saw Bill stub his toe and everyone around him suddenly went silent and stepped back nervously, implying to the audience that Bill had a bad temper but not telling us directly.
To get you started, try to consider what the diction, syntax, and dialect of Diaz’s narrator in “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie”, tells us about his character. The manner in which his narrator speaks to us implies so much about the character that then does not have to be explained directly.
