Characterization Is Key In Short Stories Essay

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Characterization, simply put, is the way an author portrays the characters in a story. It provides information not only on those who move and/or speak in a written piece, it contributes to why those people move and/or speak and further underlines their given actions and behaviors. Characterization drives a story forward by giving motives and reasons for what characters say or do. There is frequently establishment of background information about characters, which tells a reader more about them so they can identify situations with the characters and further understand what they do. Why is characterization important? It is important because it provides realism and something for the reader to emotionally or socially connect to, it provides structure to the plot and adds a base for further actions throughout the story, and it brings forth the main conflict in the story. In this essay I will be proving the importance of characterization in a short story and showing how it is the key to success in terms of literary confinement by using instances from Guy de Maupassant’s The Necklace.
One main goal of an author is or should be to leave an impact on the reader; a mental connection is the only relationship an author can use to associate with the reader. Without such a connection, the story is basically pointless: reading it provides no point, leaving absolutely no impact on the reader. With this being said, Maupassant characterizes Mathilde with a blind personality. She is very oblivious to what she already has and has a strong sweet tooth for luxury (40). This strong, and frankly undesirable mindset leaves a curious yet troublesome crater in the readers mind; it allows room for foretelling the future plot and puts the reader on edge,
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always wondering what she will do, say, or want next. The reader might also develop insight on the particular character if the characterization was set forth in a distinctive manner. This would call for a strong bond between the mind...