In order to employ what we know about point of view, we must assess the characters of the story. You have probably had to memorize characters’ names and major roles before, but there are actually many more questions you might consider about them. Some examples include:

• What descriptions does the author provide about this character? Descriptions may be one sentence or a whole page long, but every bit of information counts. Pay attention to specific adjectives used to describe the character.
• Is the character the protagonist (leading character or “good guy”)? Are they an antagonist (opposing character or “bad guy”)?
• How does the character interact with others? Do they seem to be introverted or extroverted? Do you see any patterns in the conversations in the character’s conversations?
• What are the character’s motives for their actions? Do readers know of any key experiences that might influence those actions?
• What does the character seem to value? Do they seem to particularly love, hate, appreciate, respect, or reject anything?
• What is the character’s perception of self? Can you understand her better by looking into how she speaks and thinks about herself?

There are plenty more questions you might ask about a story’s characters. Understanding characters helps readers get a much more thorough sense of the story because the characters’ actions are what typically propel the plot. Therefore, if we figure out the characters and their motives, experiences, and emotions, we can draw more informed conclusions about the story as a whole.

An Example

Let’s look at the opening paragraph of Joyce Carol Oats’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” for some examples of characterization:

Her name was Connie. She was fifteen and she had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right. Her mother, who noticed everything and knew everything and who hadn’t much reason any longer to look at her own face, always scolded Connie about it. “Stop gawking at yourself. Who are you? You think you’re so pretty?” she would say. Connie would raise her eyebrows at these familiar old complaints and look right through her mother, into a shadowy vision of herself as she was right at that moment: she knew she was pretty and that was everything. Her mother had been pretty once too, if you could believe those old snapshots in the album, but now her looks were gone and that was why she was always after Connie.

Readers can initially gather some key points of information about the characters:

• Connie is a fifteen-year-old girl
• Connie likes to look at her reflection
• Connie and her mother do not seem to get along very well

Upon further examination, however, readers might notice:

• Connie appears to be insecure, since she very frequently fixates on her appearance and on other people’s reactions to it
• Connie also knows she is pretty, though, which points to a complicated relationship with her appearance
• Connie’s fixation on appearance annoys her mother
• Connie thinks that her mother is jealous of her attractiveness
• Being pretty is “everything” to Connie

This opening information helps readers understand why Connie lies to her mother and to her friend’s father about her whereabouts. It provides details about why Connie later feels validated by socializing with older kids and attracting attention from boys. The information may lead readers to draw conclusions about why a dangerous man named Arnold Friend chooses to prey upon Connie later in the story, and about how he is able to charm her through flattery.