Character Analysis and Character Traits

Character analysis is when you evaluate a character's traits, their role in the story, and the conflicts they experience.

When analyzing, you will want to think critically, ask questions, and draw conclusions about the character by looking at those three areas.

An author will usually describe what the character looks like in great detail. We typically will know their age, their size, ethnicity, and any other distinctive physical characteristics that would be pertinent to the story.

Authors will also reveal character traits, which are a character's behaviors, motivation, personality types, and their relationships with others throughout the story. Analyzing these factors can help you begin to understand the character's internal and external qualities.

Often times authors will not directly state these character traits. You may have to be a careful reader to catch these qualities being revealed as the story unfolds.

For example, you may find an excerpt like this in a story that reveals an external quality:

As she opened the present, Taylor's emerald green eyes widened in excitement as she quickly tore off the wrapping paper.

Another example may be a character who has experienced many difficult encounters in the story but has emerged victorious. The author may not have directly stated that this character is brave or heroic, but you can infer that this is a character trait by evaluating the character's behaviors in the story.

Role of the Character

Characters can play a main or a minor role in the story. Main characters are more complex and essential to the story line, while minor characters tend to be flat and remain unchanged throughout the story.

Characters can also be categorized as protagonists or antagonists. A protagonist is usually the main character who is experiencing the conflict caused by the antagonist, or opposing force in the story. Think Luke Skywalker versus Darth Vader, Harry Potter versus Voldemort, or Tom Hanks in Castaway versus his environment.

The Conflict

A story is a not a story without conflict! The conflict is what motivates and changes the protagonist. It creates the journey the character takes in the story. Conflict can be internal, where a character is not struggling with a tangible opposition but with something within him or herself.

External conflict, on the other hand, is where there is a conflict between the character and an outside force, which can be another character, group of people or force of nature. What type of conflict are they experiencing? How does the character react to this conflict? These are essential questions to ask when analyzing a character.