WEEK 4: Know Your Story, Know Your Characters

SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS

16 Myers-Briggs Types and the Nine Enneagram Types
http://www.geocities.com/lifexplore/mbtypes.htm

How Well Do You Know Your Character? (Some interesting questions (some trivial) to ask about character)
http://www.webcom.com/wordings/artofwrite/feature.html

Static and Dynamic Characterization
http://www.ksu.edu/english/baker/english320/cc-static_vs_dynamic_characterization.htm


DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Please keep answers to two or three sentences.

  1. Compare the character of Harding in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" to the character of Sherwood Anderson's Joe, studied in Part I. Of the two, which one comes more alive for you, and why?
  2. Compare Shrike in "Miss Lonelyhearts" with The Big Nurse. Of the two, which one possesses more dimension for you, and why?
  3. Compare McMurphy to Miss Lonelyhearts. Who do you have more sympathy for at the end of the novel, and why?
  4. In Gatsby, Tom Buchanan in the antagonist. Why is it that we *must* dislike him?


WRITING ASSIGNMENT

  1. Sketch your protagonist and antagonist in the following manner. Answer each in three sentences or less.

    - What are the self-serving biases or beliefs of the antagonist?
    - What is the goal of the antagonist? What does she or he want most?
    - What does the antagonist control?
    - What does your protagonist do to engage reader concern, and sympathy?
    - What are the conflicting motivations within your protagonist?
    - How does your protagonist evolve? How is she or he different at the end of the novel?
    - If we accept that true depth of character is only revealed through action (as in life), what major action(s) does your protagonist take that makes he or she memorable?

  2. Sketch an important minor character in your novel. Use the six Sherwood Anderson basics from Part I. Remember, what makes this character special, i.e, how is reader sympathy, interest, or concern evoked? Keep your answers brief--three or four sentences.

  3. OPTIONAL: a complete character animation sketch of your protagonist or antagonist using all the categories noted in Part IV.


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