Analysing texts, Year 7: character and setting

What other characters say about them

提示Think of gossip: it is how you get to know someone you have not met.

为什么A 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.

Telling

提示Nothing is left for the reader to work out.

为什么The trait is stated outright. Telling is quick and clear, but the reader has to take the writer's word for it.

He is mean with money

提示Notice how reluctant he is to let go.

为什么The writer never uses a word like 'stingy'. The double counting and the slow slide do the work, and the reader reaches the judgement alone.

It deepens it: the joking hides sadness

提示Ask what the loudness might be covering.

为什么Writers 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.

Characterisation

提示It names the craft, not the person.

为什么It covers what a character says and does, how they look, what they think and what others say about them.

setting

提示A film crew scouts locations to find the right one.

为什么It covers place, time of day, season, weather and historical period. Writers choose each one, so each is worth asking about.

Atmosphere

提示Weather forecasters and storytellers both use this word.

为什么It is built from choices: the place, the weather, the light, the sounds, and the particular words used to describe them.

Tense and threatening

提示Notice that light and sight are both being taken away.

为什么'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.

pathetic fallacy

提示Its first word is related to 'sympathy', not to 'feeble'.

为什么The 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.

It becomes eerie and threatening

提示Familiar places feel different without people or light.

为什么Nothing about the place has changed except the time and the absence of people, yet the mood flips. That is how strongly setting controls atmosphere.