How do you analyze a character of a book without summarizing?

Question

I have to write an essay for english and i have to analyze the role of the main character and write about the character, but im not supposed to summarize, how do i do this without summarizing?

Answer 1

I think those directions are a way to emphasize analysis over factual summation. What does that mean? Take Little Red Riding Hood as an example.

A summation would be: "The little girl walked in the woods to see her grandmother. When she arrived at the house she found a wolf had killed her grandmother."

A character analysis would be: "The young girl in Little Red Riding Hood represents virginal innocence. Her character is in stark contrast to her nemesis, the Big Bad Wolf. The Big Bad Wolf represents violence, cunning and death."

An oversimplification but you get the idea. Good luck!!!

Answer 2

Talk about the character and the evolution of the character throughout the book, mentioning key events only as they are pertinent to the development of the character. Plot can be left nearly entirely out of the matter if you do it like this.

Answer 3

Don't talk to much about what that character did in the book as much as how you perceive that character based on their actions. Like this character is kind hearted (in the book he finds injured animals and nursed them back to health). He is strong and caring (cared for his younger brothers and sisters after the death of their parents) I don't know what your book is about I'm just giving you examples of what they are looking for. Hope I didn't confuse you too much.

Answer 4

summarizing just repeats what happened in your own words. what your instructor is trying to get you to do by analyzeing is to look more into the reasons behind it and to pick apart the persons actions and to read more into the meaning of it all rather than just repeating what he or she did.

Answer 5

just identify some of the main traits of the character like if they are cocky and sarcastic or nice and optimistic and explain why and give examples from the book. thats not summerising but it covers what you have to do =]

hope this helps any additional questions and i'll be here to help if u want