Characterization

In To Da-duh, in Memoriam, the reader can see a lot of characterization.  The reader quickly learns that the story is told from the 1^st person perspective.  Almost immediately after the introductions of the characters, there is a series of indirect statements describing the grandmother.  The narrator describes the grandmother as having “an ugly rolled-brim brown felt hat, her back was beginning to bend, old-fashioned white dress” etc. All of those descriptions are indirect, showing the appearance of the grandmother when she first saw her.  The narrator then continues to describe the grandmother’s face saying “it was as stark and fleshless as a death mask, ruined skin and deep wells, and her eyes were alive.” These are also indirect statements about the appearance of the grandmother.  The narrator then observes her grandmothers actions towards her and her family.  Her mother was reduced to the narrators status when they grandmother calls her child, showing characterization in an indirect way through the grandmother’s interactions between her and her daughter.  The grandmother then turns and interacts with the granddaughters, saying that she wishes they were white boys.  This is also an indirect characterization through the grandmother’s interactions.  Later on throughout story, the grandmother is constantly interacting with the youngest granddaughter by “competing” with her.  The grandmother challenges the thing is New York and asks the girl if they have anything as tall as or a great as something in the grandmother’s world.  The grandmother continuously shows her curiosity about New York, but at the same time, doesn’t seem to completely believe everything the girl is telling her.  This is indirect characterization because it shows the grandmothers interactions with the granddaughter.  Indirect characterization is important in any story because it helps bring the characters to life, and it lets you have more freedom with how you imagine the characters. Without indirect characterization, books and stories would be badly written and not as flowey.  Characterization is important in any story to help bring the characters to life in the readers mind and mesmerize them with the actions and experiences characters have in books and stories