Characterization is the backbone of the theme of a story. In the story “The Jewelry Box '', Lauren walks into her classroom late and she is anxious about what others will think, which is expressed through her actions, thoughts, and appearance. Lauren is bullied by a classmate, Jerry Pickup, in their woodshop class, Lauren then decides that she will gain confidence and stand up to Jerry, which causes Jerry and Lauren to get along. Lauren’s change from timid to confident, shown through her actions, strongly supports the theme of confidence is necessary during adversity. The author uses characterization to develop the theme by conveying the character’s thoughts as uncomfortable, showing through different character’s looks that they are much bigger and more intimidating than the main character, and expressing through …show more content…
The text states, “The room was full of students she recognized from her bus and she grew more uncomfortable.”. Lauren’s thoughts show how much she wants to avoid talking to people, which is very important to the theme because it allows for a dramatic character change. Lauren, in the beginning, is portrayed as very nervous or anxious, however, towards the end of the story Lauren becomes more confident and stands up to her bully, Jerry Pickup. The author begins characterizing Lauren as timid so she can grow to be confident during a hard time, which strongly supports the theme. The looks expressed about Jerry show that he is very large and intimidating. The story says, “...looked thirty and had a scar under his right eye…”. Jerry is very large compared to Lauren who is very petite, which contributes to Lauren’s fear of Jerry. Lauren is already a timid person and Jerry's appearance and attitude only add to her anxiety. Jerry being large contributes to the theme because it makes it easier for Lauren to be timid and harder for her to become confident when Jerry bullies