Characters

Adjectives applied to literary characters from the point of view of a writer’s skill in creating them are as follows:

well-drawn poorly-drawn

vividly-drawn superficial

true-to-life lifeless

realistic too good to be true

convincing unconvincing

complex lacking in depth/complexity

subtle They never come to life.

To draw, portray, depict, represent characters

e.g. He draws his characters from life / with great skill / insight / care.

main/minor character

hero/heroine one main character who is also admirable

sympathetic/unsympathetic character In literary criticism, it means ‘arousing the reader’s liking’.

Negative/positive are not applied to literary characters. Some specific words are used such as:

admirable despicable

virtuous wicked, immoral

strong weak

honest dishonest

unselfish selfish, etc.

e.g. He has many good/fine/admirable qualities.

It is this quality of compassion that makes him such a sympathetic character.

Characterization is the art of creating literary characters.

e.g. The characterization is good/weak.

5. Relationship is the way in which literary characters react to each other.

e.g. Andrew had a very happy relationship with his parents.

Brenda found it difficult to form serious relationships.

The book is about Julia's relationships with her family, friends and colleagues.

Family relationships are one of the book's main themes.

The author's main interest is in human relationships, especially within the family.

Graham Green's treatment of human relationships shows great insight.

The following adjectives are widely used with relationship:

close complex

permanent difficult

lasting (un)happy

(un)successful

Syn.: relations (pl)

e.g. Relations between them were rather strained.

Ideas, views, attitudes

Attention should be paid to prepositions that follow them.

idea about/on

e.g. The author expresses some interesting ideas about/on family life.

idea of

e.g. The idea of individual responsibility is introduced right at the beginning and developed throughout the book. The idea of racial equality is never explicitly stated/expressed but it's implicit in all his works.

view on/about

e.g. What are the author's views on/about the role of the artist in society?

view of

e.g. The author's view of society is limited.

attitude to

e.g. The author's attitude to scientific progress is not clear from this novel.

Style

The following adjectives are used to describe a writer’s style: