What the exam asks
On the exam, simply labeling a character trait earns little. Instead, questions and prompts ask for function:
- Section I (Multiple Choice): Questions ask what a specific detail, comparison, or action implies about a character’s unspoken motives, how a narrator’s bias filters our view of a character, or how a character’s response defies expectations established earlier in the passage.
- Section II (Free Response): Question 2 often asks you to analyze how literary elements convey a character’s “complex response” or “evolving attitude.” Question 3 frequently asks how a character’s shifting perspective, internal conflict, or deliberate inaction illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.
Core ideas
Descriptions, associated details, and expectations
Authors use initial descriptions—physical appearance, clothing, personal possessions, mannerisms, and environment—to establish a baseline expectation for how a character will behave.
- Meeting expectations reinforces the character’s reliability, social role, or thematic function.
- Defying expectations (such as a stern judge weeping over a stray bird, or a celebrated philanthropist quietly exploiting a servant) creates complexity, irony, or tension, forcing the reader to revise their initial interpretation.
Characterizing comparisons: two-way revelation
When a narrator or another character compares someone to an object, animal, or historical figure (via simile, metaphor, or analogy), the comparison works in two directions:
| Element | What it reveals |
|---|---|
| The target of the comparison | Highlights specific traits, status, or vulnerabilities of the character being described. |
| The maker of the comparison | Exposes the values, prejudices, education, or emotional state of the narrator or character speaking. |
The narrator’s filter and shifting perspectives
A character’s perspective is how they view and interpret their world, shaped by background, status, and experience. However, in prose, our access to a character’s perspective is often mediated by the narrator’s perspective. If a third-person narrator uses judgmental diction or ironic commentary, you must separate who the character actually is from how the narrator wants you to see them.