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SingaporeEnglish LiteratureQuick questions
Reading Prose Fiction
Quick questions on Characterisation in prose explained: O-Level Literature in English
6short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is the methods of characterisation?Show answer
Writers build characters in several ways, and naming the method is the start of analysis:
What is read the telling detail?Show answer
Characterisation often turns on a small, specific detail, a man who locks a till three times, a woman who never finishes her sentences. These details are chosen, and they imply far more than they state. The skill is to seize the precise detail and unfold what it suggests, rather than generalising. "He counted the coins three times" tells us about anxiety and distrust far more vividly than "he was careful".
What is watch for character development?Show answer
Characters can change across a text, and an essay question may ask how. Tracing a character's development, where they start, what changes them, where they end, is a structural skill that builds on characterisation. Even within a single extract, you can sometimes see a character revealed gradually or shifting, and noting this is valuable.
What is q1?Show answer
Why is indirect characterisation often more powerful than direct characterisation? [2 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
A character "tried the lock, then tried it again". What might this action reveal, and how? [2 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Besides naming a character's qualities, what else should a strong analysis of characterisation include? [3 marks]
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