Importance Of Characterization In Short Story

Characterization in literary fiction that has special importance, and authors develop their sense of responsibility for full and effective character development. Character is everything in literary fiction. Characters can also be animals or whatever the writer chooses to act in his/her story. Simply, characters literally make things happen in a story. This essay will describe and give a broader picture of how the characterization is developed in the short stories and how would the story look like without characters by supporting with examples of some short stories.

First, Characters are an important element in short stories because they drive the story as a whole. The types of characters that are involved in a story create different types of conflicts and tensions as well as different types of resolutions. Actually characters get things going in the story. And there are 3 types of characters (Main vs. Minor), (Dynamic vs. Static) and (Round vs. Flat). For example, in the short story “Thank you ma’am”, it is at eleven o’clock at night, where

Jones took Roger home, made him wash, fed him and gave him money. Roger tried to snatch Mrs. Jones pocketbook, but then tried to gain her trust. So, these characters are round because we really get to know them. They are like “real” people as well. Mrs. Jones may have a rough appearance, but she is very kind. She treats Roger as her son. However, she is not perfect. She tells Roger that she has also made mistakes before: “I have done things too, which I would not tell you son, neither tell God, if he didn’t already know.” Roger also learns from Mrs. Jones. After having tried to snatch her pocketbook, he later tries to gain her trust. He even offers to go to the store if she needs anything. One feels that his words “Thank you ma’am” although very simple, are very meaningful and sincere, so that shows how Mrs. Jones is a very kind hearted woman that made him at last tell her Thank you