AP English Literature AMSCO Guided Notes
1.1: Characters and Characterization
AP English Literature Guided Notes
AMSCO 1.1 - Characters and Characterization
Essential Questions
- How do details in a text reveal character, perspectives, and motives?
I. The Details that Create Characters
1. What is characterization and what are the three main methods authors use to reveal characters?
2. How does direct characterization differ from indirect characterization?
A. Description, Dialogue, and Behavior
1. What specific details about Sarah's appearance and behavior reveal her as a confident and comfortable person?
2. How do Daniel's observations of Sarah's movements and stride reveal his perspective on her character?
3. What does Sarah's comment about painting her nails red, white, and blue suggest about her character and her relationship with Daniel?
B. Says Who? Characterization is affected by who is doing the describing
1. Why is it important to consider the source when evaluating a character description, and how can bias affect characterization?
2. What are the five tools of characterization represented by the acronym STEAL, and what questions should readers ask about each tool?
II. Perspective
1. What is perspective and how does it relate to a character's motives and actions?
A. Factors that Inform Perspective
1. What four factors influence a character's perspective?
1. Background and Experience
1. How have Daniel's prior experiences with money, education, and police profiling shaped his perspective and motivated his actions in the story?
2. How do the experiences Daniel encounters during the story—being asked to play 'Dixie' and seeing the flag decal—affect his perspective and motivate his decision to buy the truck?
2. Personality Traits
1. What personality traits does Daniel display in both the bar scene and at the medical association banquet, and how do these traits shape his perspective?
2. How do Travis's personality traits of being true to his word and willfully ignorant inform his perspective on Daniel's purchase of the truck?
3. Biases and Relationships
1. How do Sarah's and Barb's different relationships with Daniel and Travis influence their biases and their perspectives on the men's interactions?
2. What does Daniel's deliberate act of holding Barb's eyes until she looks away reveal about his perspective and his awareness of racial power dynamics?
B. Shaping Perspective
1. How do Daniel's relationships with his parents, as suggested by his inherited possessions, shape his perspective on his own worth?
2. How has Daniel's Southern environment, including racial prejudice and police profiling, shaped his perspective on racial privilege and harm?
3. How does Daniel's experience of playing 'Dixie' in the bar shift his perspective on racial symbols and their meaning?
4. What idea does Daniel discover through his experience in the bar, and how does this idea shape his perspective on the Confederate flag decal?
C. Revealing Perspective
1. How are characters' perspectives revealed through their relationships, environment, and behavior in a story?
2. How is Daniel's shifted perspective revealed through his relationships with Travis and Barb, his environment, and his encounters with other motorists?
Key Terms
character
details
perspective
bias
motives