ESSAY ASSIGNMENT #3 CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Write a character study of one of the main characters from one of the following stories or plays:

• Richard Wright's "The Man Who Was Almost a Man";
  
• Karen Bender's "Eternal Love";
  
• Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal";
  
• Luisa Valenzuela's "The Density of Words";
• David Mamet's "Oleanna"; or
  
• Wendy Wasserstein's "The Man in a Case"

Write about the traits of the character and support your conclusions by pointing out things that:

• the character says
  
• the character does
  
• other characters say about the character
  
• other characters do in relation to the character

Discuss how the character's attributes help drive the action in the story or play. You may also want to discuss whether the character is "round" or "flat" and why you think so.

Refer to LFC pp. 228-9, 235-6, 338-43 (5th ed.) and pp. 222-3, 229-230, 370-374 (6th ed.) for more information on characterizations.

This essay should be prepared in MLA style, with a Works Cited page. Refer to handout on MLA style; Appendices A and B in Literature for Composition; and Writing Research Papers (11th ed.), Chs. 11, 13 and 14 in particular. Also, consider visiting Bedford St. Martin’s Re:Writing Site and using The Bedford Bibliographer.