The Ransom of Red Chief Assignment – Read the story – page 71-78 Notes: Characterization - the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character An author reveals the personality of the character by: - giving a physical description o The boy had red hair and blue eyes. through what the character does, says, feels and thinks o He thought, “Why am I here? What did I do to fail?” through what other characters say or think about that character o “I really don’t want to go to John’s house,” she said. “He is always so mean.” directly telling you about the character o Dena was a kind, caring individual. Static vs. Dynamic Static – characters that never change or develop throughout the story Dynamic – characters that experience changes throughout the plot of the story Flat vs. Round Round – characters that are most real-like. They experience emotions, grow, and we usually feel some emotional bond to them (multiple personality traits) Flat – characters that have no depth and can be described in a single sentence. Reveals only one or two personality traits throughout the plot. The following chart is based on the responses from the class: Character Bill Sam Red Chief (Johnny) – kid Ebenezer Traits Kidnapper – seemingly stupid, afraid of the kid, timid, the bossed around one, can’t handle the kid, fat (static, round) Kidnapper - The brains of the operation, seemingly smart at first, uses a lot of big words, narrator, ends up falling for the counteroffer (dynamic, round) Evil, annoying, trouble, devil-child, hyper, imaginative, no one seems to like him (static, round) Dad, pretty smart, out-wits the kidnappers (static, flat) Assignment: After watching the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4RuofhNcvg) give 2 -3 examples on how the characters in the story are different than the characters in the video. *Beware –Another word for cat is used which is a now-derogatory word about 2 minutes into the video