Characterization & "The First Day"

The mother in the "The First Day" is the ​ (a)  

• protagonist
• antagonist
• epiphany

Answer explanation

The narrator's mother is the main character that the story's action revolves around, and she has the sympathy of the reader.

Which kind of characterization tells about a character?

_ _ _ _ _ _ characterization

Characters that experience substantial change are _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Reorder the ways authors create INDIRECT characterization to form an acronym

• ACTIONS

• LOOKS

• EFFECT

  on others

• SPEECH

• THOUGHTS

  (and feelings)

Match the following methods of characterization with the quote from the story.

• Direct Characterization

• When I say the word in fun to one of my sisters, my mother slaps me across the mouth and the word is lost for years and years.

• Indirect Characterization through SPEECH

• The higher up the scale of respectability a person is–and teachers are rather high up in her eyes–the less she is liable (likely) to let them push her around.

• Indirect Characterization through ACTION

• “I can’t read it. I don’t know how to read or write, and I’m askin you to help me.”

Which method of indirect characterization is used in this quotation:

And even when the teacher turns me towards the classrooms and I hear what must be the singing and talking of all the children in the world, I can still hear my mother’s footsteps above it all.

• THOUGHTS and feelings

• EFFECT on others

• ACTIONS

• LOOKS

Which method of indirect characterization is used in this quotation:

Walker-Jones is a larger, newer school and I immediately like it because of that. But it is not across from my mother’s church, her rock, one of her connections to God, and I sense her doubts as she absently rubs her thumb over the back of her hand.

• THOUGHTS and feelings

• EFFECT on others

• ACTIONS

• LOOKS

One can infer that the mother’s ___________ for being so concerned that her daughter gets a proper education is due to the fact she never received an education herself and wants her daughter to have a better life.

Determine the method of characterization for each quotation

Groups:

(a) INDIRECT: LOOKS

,

(b) INDIRECT: SPEECH

,

(c) INDIRECT: ACTIONS

• My mother has uncharacteristically spent an hour on my hair that morning.

• “One monkey don’t stop no show.”

• I see where she has darned (repaired) one of her socks the night before.

Which TWO of mother’s character traits most affects the story’s outcome?

• strict

• prepared

• religious

• caring

• determined