Characterisation and narrative voice - CCEA

The material on this page is designed to help you with revision and preparation for your CCEA GCSE English Language exams. It applies to Unit 4, Section B, Task 2: Reading literary texts.

• Unit 4 is assessed by a written exam, worth 30% of your final mark
• There are three tasks (numbered 2, 3 and 4) in Section B of the Unit 4 exam, worth 62 of the 150 marks available
• In task two, you will be given two extracts from literary texts (eg novels)
• You will be expected to compare and contrast these two extracts and explain how the writers have achieved something in particular (eg created a sense of excitement, or presented interesting characters)

You can practice for your English Language GCSE exams with a range of CCEA past papers and mark schemes.

• No matter how believable a character may be, keep in mind that the writer has used language to create them
• Characters can be shown through what they do, say, look like or how others react to them, and even small details can reveal big things about their personality
• Good stories often show contrasts between characters or even within a single character, like someone who acts tough but is actually kind
• Narrative voice is the point of view the story is told from – like first person (I), second person (you) or third person (he/she/they), and it affects how we feel about the story
• Writers use different styles and tones in their narration to create mood, show character feelings or make us think about deeper ideas

Characterisation is the way writers create characters and make them believable. When writing about texts, it is easy to treat characters as real people. Try to remember that the author is creating characters using language.

Think about the set of characters in a text:

• What are the characters like? How do you know this?
• What do the characters say (dialogue)?
• What do the characters do?
• How are they described?
• How are they seen by other characters?

On the Black Hill

Character can be shown through the things characters do, what they say, what they look like, and what they own.

The following extracts describe two farmers from Bruce Chatwin’s On the Black Hill. What do we learn about these characters from the writer’s choice of language?

The brothers were identical twins.

As boys, only their mother could tell them apart: now age and accidents had weathered them in different ways.

Lewis was tall and stringy, with shoulders set square and a steady long-limbed stride. Even at eighty he could walk over the hills all day, or wield an axe all day, and not get tired.

He gave off a strong smell. His eyes – grey, dreamy and astigmatic – were set well back into the skull, and capped with thick round lenses in white metal frames. He bore the scar of a cycling accident on his nose and, ever since, its tip had curved downwards and turned purple in cold weather.

His head would wobble as he spoke: unless he was fumbling with his watch-chain, he had no idea what to do with his hands. In company, he always wore a puzzled look; and if anyone made a statement of fact, he’d say, ‘Thank you!’ or ‘Very kind of you!’ Everyone agreed he had a wonderful way with sheepdogs.

Benjamin was shorter, pinker, neater and sharp-tongued. His chin fell into his neck, but he still possessed the full stretch of his nose, which he would use in conversation as a weapon. He had less hair.

He did all the cooking, the darning and the ironing; and he kept the accounts. No one could be fiercer in a haggle over stock-prices and he would go on, arguing for hours, until the dealer threw up his hands and said, ‘Come off, you old skinflint!’ and he’d smile and say, ‘What can you mean by that?’

On the Black Hill, Bruce Chatwin

Analysis

• The writer uses language to contrast the two characters; although they are twins, they are very different.
• The first twin, Lewis, is presented as physically active with "a steady long-limbed stride…” The choice of words here suggests confidence - the word "stride" has connotations of energy and vigour.
• In contrast to this - "His head would wobble as he spoke…" - the word "wobble" suggests an uncertainty in Lewis. This is reinforced by the choice of the verb "fumbling" in the same sentence.
• The examples of his limited dialogue"Thank you!..Very kind of you!" also reveal he is not quite comfortable with talking at social occasions, with the exclamation marks adding a comical feel to his speech.
• In contrast Benjamin is presented as a character who "…would go on, arguing for hours…”
• The repetition of the ‘er’ after the sharp consonants in “shorter, pinker, neater…” mirror the idea of Benjamin as more "sharp-tongued”.
• The image of the character using his nose "…as a weapon" is also effective in establishing his sharper personality.
• The formal, deliberate tone of his dialogue "What can you mean by that?" shows that he is more in control than his brother during social conversation.

It’s important to think about how characters’ change and interact with each other, as this could suggest some important themes or ideas in the text. The writer may use language to encourage the reader to respond to a character in a certain way.

Look for contrasts or contradiction - not just between characters, but within each character. In real life, no one is simply good or bad. All effective characters have more than one side.

Typical contrasts between characters

• Characters who think versus characters who feel.
• Characters who talk versus characters who act.
• Sociable characters versus solitary characters.
• Predators who take advantage of people versus characters who are victims.
• Characters who want one thing versus those who want another.

Typical contrasts within a character

• A person who says one thing, and does another.
• A character who sacrifices something important to pursue a goal of their own.
• A character who wants two opposing things.

Example

This extract is a description of a character from Hilary Mantel’s historical novel Bring Up the Bodies. Thomas Cromwell is the King’s Secretary – an important role. What do we learn about Thomas Cromwell from this extract?

Thomas Cromwell is now about fifty years old. He has a labourer's body, stocky, useful, running to fat. He has black hair, greying now, and because of his pale impermeable skin, which seems designed to resist rain as well as sun, people sneer that his father was an Irishman, though really he was a brewer and a blacksmith at Putney, a shearsman too, a man with a finger in every pie, a scrapper and brawler, a drunk and a bully, a man often hauled before the justices for punching someone, for cheating someone. How the son of such a man has achieved his present eminence is a question all Europe asks. Some say he came up with the Boleyns, the queen's family. Some say it was wholly through the late Cardinal Wolsey, his patron; Cromwell was in his confidence and made money for him and knew his secrets. Others say he haunts the company of sorcerers. He was out of the realm from boyhood, a hired soldier, a wool trader, a banker. No one knows where he has been and who he has met, and he is in no hurry to tell them.

Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel

Analysis

• There’s a contrast between Cromwell’s background, as the son of a blacksmith, and his current job and position.
• The use of different tense stresses this, by placing the word "now" in the middle of the first sentence, then the rest of the extract focuses mainly on his past.The writer focuses on Cromwell’s varied background, by listing his various professions or occupations.
• First his father’s various trades are listed - “a brewer and a blacksmith…a shearsman too…” Later in the extract Cromwell’s occupations are listed - “…a hired soldier, a wool trader, a banker.”
• The effect of this listing, seems to be to link the two men, one who was "a brawler, a drunk and a bully…” and one who is surrounded by mystery.
• The opening phrases from some of the sentences are repeated - “Some say…Some say…Others say…” The effect of this repetition is to suggest there’s a mystery about how Cromwell got to where he is – that people gossip about him.
• People don’t seem to like him - either he "came up" with the family of the queen, or maybe he owes his rise to "sorcerers."
• “…made money for him and knew his secrets.” The choice of language here implies that the character may owe his success to dishonest dealings.
• The reader could feel sympathy for Cromwell. He’s a self-made man, who is sometimes looked down on by those around him.
• There is also a suggestion that this character doesn’t need the reader’s sympathy.
• His physical appearance also suggests a certain toughness, he is "stocky" and his skin is described as "impermeable." The use of this last adjective could also represent his character: he is closed and gives nothing away.

Key Fact

When you are writing about characterisation, don't just describe what characters are like. Examine the language techniques used by the writer to create the character.

Narrative voice is the perspective the story is told from. The writer chooses a narrative voice carefully, as it can have an important effect on the story and the reader’s response.

When thinking about narrative voice, think about the following:

• How does the reader feel about the narrator?
• Does the reader trust the narrator? Do they seem reliable?
• Is the voice of the narrator the author or someone else?
• How does the narrator choose to show us this fictional world?

Catcher in the Rye, by J D Salinger, is a first person narrative. The story is told from the perspective of a character called Holden, as if he were confiding in the reader. We get a sense of his character from the language he uses.

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two haemorrhages a piece if I told anything pretty personal about them. They're quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They're nice and all I'm not saying that-but they're also touchy as hell. Besides, I'm not going to tell you my whole goddam autobiography or anything.

Catcher in the Rye, J D Salinger

In this extract, from Rose Tremain's The Colour, the writer uses a third person narrator. This narrator is not a character, but a voice that knows the thoughts and feelings of the characters in the story. In this extract we are presented with Harriet’s feelings.

It was mid-afternoon and Harriet judged that there were four or five hours of light remaining. Before the night stole up on her, she must busy herself with inspecting what remained and seeing what shelter she might be able to contrive. She told herself that at such a moment, it was best to move from simple task to simple task, going slowly and keeping watch, like a mariner who prepares his small boat for the coming storm. Yet the mile upon mile of emptiness around her made her more afraid than she had ever expected and she found it difficult to move from the spot where she stood. She looked down at her feet, shod in dusty black boots, with the laces beginning to fray, and was struck by how small they appeared.

The Colour, Rose Tremain

Example

This extract is the opening of D H Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover. What is the effect of the narrative voice in this extract?

Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.

This was more or less Constance Chatterley’s position. The war has brought the roof down over her head. And she had realised that one must live and learn.

She married Clifford Chatterley in 1917, when he was home for a month on leave. They had a month’s honeymoon. Then he went back to Flanders: to be shipped over to England again six months later, more or less in bits. Constance, his wife, was then twenty-three years old, and he was twenty-nine.

His hold on life was marvellous. He didn’t die, and the bits seemed to grow together again. For two years he remained in the doctor’s hands. Then he was pronounced a cure, and could return to life again, with the lower half of his body, from the hips down, paralysed for ever.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D H Lawrence

Analysis

• This extract is written in the third person.
• The use of the third person voice allows the writer to share direct information about the setting and characters.
• The narrative voice has an educated, formal tone. The reference to a ‘tragic age’ also gives the opening a wide reaching, philosophical tone.
• The narrator uses the present tense to establish the historical setting of the novel: the time of World War One.
• The reader is acknowledged and included by the narrator - “Ours is…we are…we start…we’ve got to…” These references also establish a link between the voice telling the story and the characters in the story – they both share the same context.
• A modern reader may find the formality of the personal pronouns– “…one must live…” makes them feel less connected to the narrative voice.
• The narrative voice uses detached, matter of fact language – for example the use of the word ‘habitats’ when referring to people, makes the narrator appear as a detached observer.
• The use of numbers also makes the narrative more objective - “1917…a month…six months later…twenty-three…twenty-nine.”
• This matter of fact tone contrasts with the informality of the phrases ‘shipped over…more or less in bits…” The use of complex nouns like ‘cataclysm’ contrast with informal verbs like ‘scramble’.
• The second paragraph seems to offer an insight into the character of Constance – her feelings and perspective - “…she had realised that one must live and learn.”
• In places the third person narrative seems to be coloured by her perspective - “His hold on life was marvellous.”
• The emotivesubject matter is undercut by the detached narrative voice, so that the tone is not sentimental or tragic. This reflects the overall tone of the opening paragraph - “…we refuse to take it tragically.”
• The narrator layers several linked metaphors - “…among the ruins…build up new little habitats…no smooth road into the future…skies have fallen…” These geographical images give the narrator’s philosophical musings a more direct, physical impact.