Revelation of Character, Part I

Who are these people?

Narrative Technique, written by Thomas H. Uzzell and published in 1923 by Harcourt, Brace and Company, was the first book about writing I ever read. My father gave it to me along with this advice: “If you want to be a writer, write. But read books about writing, too. From every one of them, you can pick up an idea or two.”

From Narrative Technique, I picked up an idea that helped me to understand how I could allow readers to know my characters: make the characters act.

Actions Speak

Actions do speak, but not all actions allow readers to know a character. For example, Uzzell offers the following examples:

Pure Thought

“A woman is buying groceries,” Uzzell writes. “How much will she pay the grocer? By adding up the cost of the different items on her list she learns the answer. A carpenter wishes to know how much lumber he needs for a given job; he has already measured the door or wall or sides of the house and by calculation learns his answer. A biologist sits reviewing a large number of scientific data and speculating upon the probable origin of life. . . . The problems of each of these three people are solved by thinking.” Consequently, we don’t know who the characters are.

Unreasoned Action

“A child, faced with food at table, eats,” Uzzell continues. “A man thinking of business problems as he starts to cross the street hears an automobile horn and pauses without thinking . . . . These situations involve action without thought; they are what we term impulsive or instinctive acts.” Consequently, again, we don’t know who the characters are.

The Reflective Delay

To reveal character, we need both thought and action. We also need a conflict: a protagonist wants something, and an antagonist prevents him from getting it. We make the protagonist think about what he can do to overcome the antagonist — we give him what Uzzell calls “the reflective delay.” Then we make him do something to try to get what he wants. He fails and tries again. Finally, he either gets what he wants or doesn’t.

For Example

Joe Smith has a deadline: before sunset, he must write an article for the local newspaper. His wife asks him to mow the lawn now. He can’t do both. He asks his wife if he can mow the lawn tomorrow. She reminds him that her parents are coming this afternoon, and that she really wants them to see the lawn at its best. He reminds her that he really likes his job. She reminds him that her parents really don’t like him, and that if they see the unmown law, they’ll like him even less. He knows he’ll disappoint his wife if he doesn’t mow the lawn, and he knows he’ll lose his job if he doesn’t write the article.

His action will show us which he values more: his wife’s happiness or his own. In other words, his action — coming after the reflective delay — will reveal his character.

Conclusion

I’ve simplified Uzzell’s explanation, but I’m sure you get the idea: we allow our readers to know our characters by giving our characters a desire, by giving them opposition (other human beings, forces of nature, or competing desires within the characters themselves), by making them think about the actions, and then by making them act.

As Uzzell says, “Character may be portrayed in other ways,” but as he would agree, the essential way is to make our characters think and then act. By doing so, we allow our readers to know our characters.

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Copyright © 2023 by John Porter. All Rights Reserved.