Introducing the characters in a story is a subtle art. One
of the oldest ways to do is to describe her or him detail: “Ram was a gentle
boy, with a sweet smile. He had an unfortunate childhood which never soured his
attitude but left behind a sad quality which was to haunt him all his life.” The advantage in
this is that the writer can narrate all the aspects of Ram and create a
complete picture of him the disadvantage in such an approach is that it strips
the character of any mystery or surprise element.
For a touch of drama, it is interesting to let a second
character introduce the first before his appearance. “Come Leela, you must agree
to meet my cousin Sheel. I must warn you he’s lake a touch-me-not, very
prickly. But he’s got a weakness for clinging women and you are sure to make a
hit with him.” Here, the writer has described three characters- Leela as the
clinging type, Sheel as the touch-me-not and the person speaking as one who is
very sure of himself. A perfect example of this form of character delineation
is in the works of Jane Austen. Read her Emma and concentrate on the chapter of
Emma going for a picnic. The conversation at the picnic is very revealing about
characters who are not present there. This method helps in speeding up the
narration. The biggest disadvantage is that there is a bias towards the character
who will not be portrayed truthfully.
Another interesting why to unfold a character is to let his
actions speak for himself. “Sunil walked into his father’s room stealthily. He
closed the door and tiptoed to the wardrobe. The lock glared at him. But such
trivia had never daunted him. He whipped out a funny looking knife and in a
trice, pierced the lock open. He rummaged in the cupboard with a confidence
born out of practice. After a couple of minutes, his hand closed around the
faded purse he was looking for. He pulled out the Rs.100 notes, counted 401 of
them and pulled the purse-strings. Stuffing the wad of notes into his pocket,
he closed the cupboard and walked out. Getting into his shabby car, he drove to
the little hut on the outskirts of the city. The money changed hands. With a
deep, satisfying puff, Sunil leaned against the wall and watched the smoke
spiral up towards the ceiling. A cunning smile lit his face. Once more he had
scored over his pompous, smug father!” This paragraph gives a deep insight into
in to Sunil’s character. From his behavior, it comes through that he has a
father complex and is deliberately following a path bound to shatter his world.
This form of character portrayal has the added advantage of taking the action
along -- a touch of the racy.
A rather limiting factor creeps in when a character is
talking about himself. Either he will sound too modest: “I am a fairly good
looking person or so people say…..” or too self-opimonated: “I was always considered
a leader in class…..” The reader will not get a true picture of the character.
There is no universal formula for the best way to depict a
character. It depends on the approach of the author, the theme and the style.
There is only one requirement though. The depiction should be truthful and
credible.
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