A Visit To Grandmother (Direct and Indirect Characterization)

In order to introduce one character's personality or traits in a specific plot of a story, authors usually use two ways,direct and indirect characterization. In "A Visit to Grandmother" the author,William Melvin Kelley, used both:

Direct characterization is the process by which the personality of a character is revealed by the use of descriptive adjective, phrases, or epithets.
One example of direct characterization, is when the author described the grandmother's ,Charles'mother, appearance. " She looked like a doll, made of black straw, the wrinkles in her face running in one direction like the head of a broom. Her hair was white and coarse...". We can deduce from the previous dialogue the grandmother's appearance using descriptive adjectives and phrases. 
Another example is when GL was described as "part conman, part practical joker , and part Don Juan".The author directly stated GL's personality of being the ladies man.


Indirect characterization is the process by which the personality of a character is revealed through the character's speech, actions, and appearance.
One example of indirect characterization is Charles' relationship with his mother. "Chig knew something was wrong the instant his father kissed her, something new and almost ugly has come to his eyes....". By mentioning that, the author introduced us to the thought that there has been a conflict between the grandmother and Charles.
Another example is when the grandmother could not differentiate between her sons which shows that she has poor eyesight.

Literature Homework

 As a teenager, I make mistakes, take wrong decisions, and choose wrong pathways that I certainly will regret later. After reading the poem “Metaphor” by Eve Merriam I felt that I could actually relate my life to the words that filled those stanzas. I learned that it is OKAY to take wrong life passages and to make wrong decisions, but regretting your choices can lead you to the wrong passages in life. Eve’s poem convinced me that regretting the past will change neither the present nor the future. So instead of pitching those words into stanzas, she used an extended metaphor that can easily be strained into our imagination to understand her point in a better and clearer way. Eve expressed and symbolized each new morning and each new day like a white fresh sheet. A blank sheet to fill up, a new opportunity to seize, and a new day to make the best of is rewarded to us. When the night comes, it folds the paper and turns all the decisions made to history. Get ready for another new morning, another sheet, and a whole bunch of new events to fill the new day with. Eve Merriam's poem Metaphor gave me that lift up of optimism that we all need to embrace our lives and move on with fresh starts every day.

The Very First Post

Greetings everyone! My name is Abeer Al-Saqaf. I'm a 14 year-old tenth grader in Dar Jana International School. Yeah I know, I'm a tenth grader and still 14.

Obviously, as you can tell from my nickname, I'm a new citizen to the "Blogging World" and this would be my first post. In my upcoming posts I would like to take you on a tour to my numerous life experiences and personal thoughts. I hope to keep you updated with my enthralling and non boring (at all) news, so STAY TUNED!