Identifying Character Traits
Characters do things. They feel things. They hear things. They say things. They think things. They go places. They can walk, run, leap, and jump. They may sit and rock in a rocking chair. They may just lie in bed, sleep, and dream. But the important thing is that characters act.
And these actions show us what kind of people these characters are: friendly, sad, nosey, happy, lovestruck, confused, angry, or inventive.
When we talk about a character, we often describe that character in terms of character traits, descriptive adjectives like happy or sad that tell us the specific qualities of the character. They're the same kinds of words that we might use to describe ourselves or others, but we're using them to describe fictional characters in something we've read.
The author may tell us these traits directly, but more often the author will show us these traits in action. Our job as readers is to draw a conclusion about the character's traits (to infer them) from what the character says, thinks, and does. We might infer a character trait from something a character does only once, or we might draw our conclusions from a series of things the character says and does.
An easy way to think about characters is to use a simple chart like the one below. You can start anywhere. There's no wrong way to make your list:
• jot down actions that the character takes then match them with descriptive adjectives in the character traits column. • list character traits that match your character; then gather a list of actions from the book that support the traits you've listed • jump back and forth between the columns listing ideas as they come to you; then go back to fill in the matching information for the related column.
For this example, we'll use the character of Harry Potter from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
• chases Malfoy when he takes Neville's Remembrall • runs to warn Hermione about the Mountain Troll on Halloween and helps Ron fight the Troll • works to protect the Sorcerer's Stone and keep it away from Lord Voldemort
courageous, brave
Characters do things. They feel things. They hear things. They say things. They think things. They go places. They can walk, run, leap, and jump. They may sit and rock in a rocking chair. They may just lie in bed, sleep, and dream. But the important thing is that characters act.
And these actions show us what kind of people these characters are: friendly, sad, nosey, happy, lovestruck, confused, angry, or inventive.
When we talk about a character, we often describe that character in terms of character traits, descriptive adjectives like happy or sad that tell us the specific qualities of the character. They're the same kinds of words that we might use to describe ourselves or others, but we're using them to describe fictional characters in something we've read.
The author may tell us these traits directly, but more often the author will show us these traits in action. Our job as readers is to draw a conclusion about the character's traits (to infer them) from what the character says, thinks, and does. We might infer a character trait from something a character does only once, or we might draw our conclusions from a series of things the character says and does.
An easy way to think about characters is to use a simple chart like the one below. You can start anywhere. There's no wrong way to make your list:
• jot down actions that the character takes then match them with descriptive adjectives in the character traits column. • list character traits that match your character; then gather a list of actions from the book that support the traits you've listed • jump back and forth between the columns listing ideas as they come to you; then go back to fill in the matching information for the related column.
For this example, we'll use the character of Harry Potter from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
• chases Malfoy when he takes Neville's Remembrall • runs to warn Hermione about the Mountain Troll on Halloween and helps Ron fight the Troll • works to protect the Sorcerer's Stone and keep it away from Lord Voldemort
courageous, brave
Sample Character Traits Word Wall(Adjectives)
able active adventurous affectionate afraid alert ambitious angry annoyed anxious apologetic arrogant attentive average bad blue bold bored bossy brainy brave bright brilliant busy calm careful careless cautious charming cheerful childish clever clumsy coarse concerned confident confused considerate cooperative courageous cowardly cross cruel curious dangerous daring dark decisive
demanding dependable depressed determined discouraged dishonest disrespectful doubtful dull dutiful eager easygoing efficient embarrassed encouraging energetic evil excited expert fair faithful fearless fierce foolish fortunate foul fresh friendly frustrated funny gentle giving glamorous gloomy good graceful grateful greedy grouchy grumpy guilty happy harsh hateful healthy helpful honest hopeful
hopeless humorous ignorant imaginative impatient impolite inconsiderate independent industrious innocent intelligent jealous kindly lazy leader lively lonely loving loyal lucky mature mean messy miserable mysterious naughty nervous nice noisy obedient obnoxious old peaceful picky pleasant polite poor popular positive precise proper proud quick quiet rational reliable religious responsible
restless rich rough rowdy rude sad safe satisfied scared secretive selfish serious sharp short shy silly skillful sly smart sneaky sorry spoiled stingy strange strict stubborn sweet talented tall thankful thoughtful thoughtless tired tolerant touchy trusting trustworthy unfriendly unhappy upset useful warm weak wicked wise worried wrong young
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson175/traits.pdf
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson175/RWT186-1.pdf
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson175/traits.pdf
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson175/RWT186-1.pdf