Question

Which sentence is an example of direct characterization?

Greg reddened and shouted, “That’s not fair!”
Zach and Marie hated each other.
Wallace washed her hands gingerly, examining the wrinkles.
Quincy composed the to-do list slowly and deliberately.

Answer 1

B. Zach and Marie hated each other.

There are two types of characterization—indirect characterization and direct characterization. Indirect characterization is where readers are presented with actions or traits of characters where they are thus indirectly told about a character by manner of being presented clues about the feelings and/or qualities of characters. Direct characterization is where readers are directly told how a character (or characters) feel(s). As such, only answer B tells is the feelings of the characters directly—they hated each other. Thus, B is the proper answer.

Answer 2

Direct characterization refers to the revelation of character by the author. In direct characterization, the character's trait is described by the author in a straightforward manner and highlights the character's motivation. Further to the audience, it reveals the character's personality.

Therefore, in the above options, the sentence which is an example of direct characterization is Zach and Marie hated each other.

In the above sentence, the author provides for Zach and Marie direct characterization that they hate each other.