Every card in Analysing texts, Year 7: character and setting
The whole deck, in order — so you can read it through before your child ever sees it.
- Writers build a character through what the character says, does, thinks and looks like. Which other method uses the rest of the cast?
What other characters say about them
HintThink of gossip: it is how you get to know someone you have not met.
WhyA character's reputation shapes how we see them before they even appear. It can also turn out to be wrong, which is a method in itself.
- 'Mrs Okoro was a kind woman.' Is the writer telling us about the character or showing us?
Telling
HintNothing is left for the reader to work out.
WhyThe trait is stated outright. Telling is quick and clear, but the reader has to take the writer's word for it.
- 'Mr Dale, the richest man in town, counted the coins twice before sliding one, slowly, across the counter.' Which trait does this action show?
He is mean with money
HintNotice how reluctant he is to let go.
WhyThe writer never uses a word like 'stingy'. The double counting and the slow slide do the work, and the reader reaches the judgement alone.
- In chapter one, Sam jokes loudly in class. In chapter three we see him alone, rereading a letter from his dad. What does the later scene do to our picture of Sam?
It deepens it: the joking hides sadness
HintAsk what the loudness might be covering.
WhyWriters often set up a simple first impression and then complicate it. Tracking the change across chapters is how you read a character, not just a scene.
- The term for all the ways a writer creates and reveals a character
Characterisation
HintIt names the craft, not the person.
WhyIt covers what a character says and does, how they look, what they think and what others say about them.
- Where and when a story takes place is called its ____.
setting
HintA film crew scouts locations to find the right one.
WhyIt covers place, time of day, season, weather and historical period. Writers choose each one, so each is worth asking about.
- The feeling or mood that a writer creates in a scene
Atmosphere
HintWeather forecasters and storytellers both use this word.
WhyIt is built from choices: the place, the weather, the light, the sounds, and the particular words used to describe them.
- 'Fog pressed against the windows and the last candle guttered.' Is the atmosphere here safe and cosy, or tense and threatening?
Tense and threatening
HintNotice that light and sight are both being taken away.
Why'Pressed' makes the fog sound as though it wants to get in, and 'the last candle guttered' means darkness is close. Both details point the same way.
- When the weather in a story mirrors a character's feelings, such as rain falling while she grieves, the technique is called ____.
pathetic fallacy
HintIts first word is related to 'sympathy', not to 'feeble'.
WhyThe outside world seems to share the character's mood: storms for anger, sunshine for hope. It lets a writer show a feeling without naming it.
- A scene is set in a sunny playground at noon. A writer moves it to the same playground at midnight, empty. How does the feel of the scene change?
It becomes eerie and threatening
HintFamiliar places feel different without people or light.
WhyNothing about the place has changed except the time and the absence of people, yet the mood flips. That is how strongly setting controls atmosphere.
1★ KS3-ENLA-ANA-0037
2★ KS3-ENLA-ANA-0038
3★ KS3-ENLA-ANA-0039
4★ KS3-ENLA-ANA-0040
5★ KS3-ENLA-ANA-0041
6★ KS3-ENLA-ANA-0042
7★ KS3-ENLA-ANA-0043
8★ KS3-ENLA-ANA-0044
9★ KS3-ENLA-ANA-0045
10★ KS3-ENLA-ANA-0046
Keep what you learn
Here, nothing is saved. In your child’s own sky every card is scheduled — it comes back just before they’d forget it — and the professor who wrote it is one tap away.