How to write an essay on character

He explains that Americans are a people that are addicted to the products of fast food. This book is compared to The Jungle which is written by another journalist Upton Sinclair. He gives the journey of a Lithuanian family, who travelled to the United States just to experience the American Dream. His expectation was shattered because he encountered the opposite. How to write an essay on character

Character Comparison and Contrast Essay

“Fast Food Nation” is a novel written by Eric Schlosser who is a journalist reporting on the food industry. He focuses more on the hazardous conditions and effects of eating fast foods.

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He explains that Americans are a people that are addicted to the products of fast food. This book is compared to The Jungle which is written by another journalist Upton Sinclair. He gives the journey of a Lithuanian family, who travelled to the United States just to experience the American Dream. His expectation was shattered because he encountered the opposite.

The family strives to get their way to survive in Chicago through the means of coning. Both books have a similar theme concerning the health of the people of America and the working conditions of people in the meat packing industry. For a deeper analysis of this subject, we will be comparing and contrasting between two major characters of each novel. The character in Fast Food Nation is known as Jurgis Rudkus while the major character in The Jungle is Kenney Dobbins.

Starting with the similarities, they both had good character and integrity in their lives. In the beginning of the literature The Jungle, Jurgis was young strong and an honest man. Kenny had a high level of integrity to his work and family. As much as there were hardships on his way, he focused on doing the things that are right and giving his best for the company regardless of the poor working conditions. They both worked for a meat packing industry.

Kenney was carrying crates weighing 120 pounds in a meat packing company called Monfort Slaughterhouse. His job was to carry heavy weights of meat. On the other hand Jurgis was digging tunnels. The name of the meat packing company is not specified but the location is in Chicago. Both their jobs required hard hours of labor. Of course such kinds of working opportunities were paying little with much to be done. Both Kenney and Jurgis were striving to have better lives for their families.

In each novel, both Kenney and Jurgis get injuries while they were working. One day as Kenney was working, a crate weighing ninety pounds fell from the top level and was about to crash him. He managed to catch it but he went out of balance and caused an injury on his back (Schlosser 187). He severely herniated two of his back disks. Jurgis also attained injuries due to the labor of digging tunnels. Both of them got no serious medical attention that should have been provided by the company.

The working conditions in both situations were poor. They became victims to the bitterness of life. Life had a way of causing oppression in their lives. According to Kenney, it was his employer while Jurgis was poverty in a foreign land. They both had challenges in their marriage but providers for their families. They were both young, Kenney was 24 years old but Jurgis age was given no specification.

Looking at the differences, Jurgis was a foreigner who travelled from Eastern Europe to America in such of a better living. He was a Lithuanian and could speak both polish and Lutheran (Sinclair 2). On the other hand, Kenny was a born American. In line with character and integrity, Kenney was able to maintain the good moral.

Regardless of how much his employer was oppressing him with harsh working conditions, he never gave up and stayed committed to his employer. Jurgis started off as a man of integrity but the pressures of life made him stray away. Wanting to survive in the harsh reality in America, he forgot every good moral he had and began conning, mugging people and turned out to be a criminal.

Kenney lost his wife through divorce while Jurgis lost his wife through child birth. He lacked the finances to pay for her medical bills. Another difference between the two characters is joining of unions. Kenney refused to involve himself with unions. He considered them as groups that build a bad reputation from the employer’s perspective. Jurgis on the other hand, involves himself into a strong labor union and socialism. He also got to be part of a socialist rally. Kenney ended up being fired and living in a horrible health.

He lost his job without any valid reason and was given no compensation. Jurgis’ involvement in the unions made him have a better life and the union rights were able to secure his position in the factory. Through socialism activities he got to be converted to a religious person and began going for missions.

It has been clearly seen that in both novels, there is a similar concept and theme while at the same time, the approach is different. The major characters in both novels have endured hardship, disappointments and bitterness. They also had different characteristic depending on the kind of circumstances. The two characters Kenney and Jurgis have helped the world to realize the kind of conditions that are in the meat packing industries.

How to write an essay on character

Being very young, Max knows a little about love and sex issues. What he is actually familiar is a number of games that make people spend a lot of time before they can maneuver the chosen games properly. This style is employed by the writer employs to show how the actions of the majority, who end up failing in life, contrasts with their positions. How to write an essay on character

Max and the Role to Be Performed

Max is the movie star who captures the minds of the viewers. Though he is very young, he is still depicted as the most outstanding character. He is a student in his o-levels in a private school that has offered him a scholarship on the one hand. However, on the other hand, this condition depicts the amount of value attached by students’ parents.

In this expensive and well performing school, Max shows how many functions he has to perform. It is a kind of sacrifice that all parents make, denying a number of valuable things just to make sure their kids attend appropriate schools where skilled teachers work and may boost the performance of their students. Max and his family are considered to be powerful characters who develop an idea of parental sacrifice.

Max stands out as the most excellent example in the field of extra-curricular activities and ironically the poorest performer in class. He has dedicated all his time playing, ignoring virtually everything related to class work. He goes further to even feud with his teacher. This shows how less interested in education and how forgetful, and how ignorant he is at the expense parents who make him attending the school.

Max is just an illustration of those students who get involved in activities that are not relevant with what they ought to be doing. They focus much on things that end up shifting their objectives in life like unnecessary visits to friends, reading irrelevant books, among others. This is how Max performs the role of a student who cannot put his personal demands and interests on the first place but follow the instructions dictated by some people around.

Being very young, Max knows a little about love and sex issues. What he is actually familiar is a number of games that make people spend a lot of time before they can maneuver the chosen games properly. This style is employed by the writer employs to show how the actions of the majority, who end up failing in life, contrasts with their positions.

Max has significantly changed. With some period of time, his behavior changes considerably from the one when he was a young student. The process of Max’s modification becomes evident in the movie, so that, the viewer is able to understand how the relations between a student and a teacher or a student and his parents should be developed.

How to write an essay on character

Now when you have already decided about the character you are about to analyze. Try to imagine him or her in flesh and blood. How do they look like? What kind of personality is it? What do you know about your character`s background, what impact did it have on him or her? What does he have to do with the story we find him in? What is his motivation? Try to outline your character. It also works well if you draw your character to help your imagination. You can also check out the character analysis essay examples. How to write an essay on character

As we have already mentioned, the first step to make towards a good character analysis is reading the book. It may be boring, on occasion, yet it is necessary.

Secondly, choose your character. Who speaks to in the book, who do you understand best? Here you have to think carefully so that it would be easier for you later to analyze your character.

As the next step try to read again or at least to rethink the whole story from your characters point of view. Try to understand the way he sees the story. Why does he have this particular kind of interaction with the characters of the book, how does he react to everything that is going on around him?

Think carefully about what you have observed about the character. What can it tell you? Remember, those characters are usually created by the authors to deliver a certain massage. Try to decode this message and give your version of what could be the purpose of creating this character. To understand better how to do it, you can read some character analysis essay sample.

What are the types of characters?

The correct delivery of character analysis requires the usage of certain terminology. Most importantly, you have to be accurate with identifying the type of character.

Protagonist/antagonist. If you’re analyzing the main character of the story, you should mention him as a protagonist, whereas if you are researching his main opponent — remember that you are talking about the antagonist.
Static characters. Now let us talk about the characters that are not that eye-catching, they are usually called static of flat characters. If we make one more reference to Juliet and her Romeo, in their story Balthasar, Romeo`s servant, is the flat character. He is almost invisible during the whole play, yet at the end, he is the one to come to Mantua and tell Romeo the news about Juliet`s death, which was not a death, as we all know. So, it can be said he played a fatal role in Romeo`s and Juliet`s life.
Dynamic characters. As opposing to the flat characters, changing or dynamic characters, even though they are still supporting, are always in the movement, they are the part of the circumstances and they also often create them. Another sample from Shakespeare`s Italian love story. Mercutio and Benvolio are supporting figures, yet they are those who did not want for the conflict between the Capulets and Montagues to be ceased. Firstly, they started the fight on the streets of Verona. Later, Mercutio, drown by jealousy and rage came to kill Romeo, but killed Benvolio instead and because of them, he got killed by Romeo. Because of all this mess, Romeo was sentenced to a life-time exile. At this point, we can say, that Mercutio and Benvolio are dynamic characters to make the whole story happen, on some point.
Supporting characters of the immortal play are Nurse and Friar Laurence. This type of character is called confidante. This means they also play a huge role in the story, yet positively, they help the main characters to get what they want. Just this way the Nurse and Friar Laurence have helped Romeo and Juliet to arrange the wedding, spend the night together and tried to help them escape together.
Stereotype character. Another type of literary character is the foil one. He is usually created to contrast and reveal the positive features of other characters in the story. In «Romeo and Juliet» this can be count Paris, who did not plan to marry Juliet for love, more for her father`s fortune she was about to inherit. When she died, he was mourning his wealth and ambitions that have now turned to dust.
The stock character is the type of supporting part, that is the summary of the typical people of the time and place. For example, the first time Shakespeare shows us, Romeo, he is desperately in love with lady Rosaline. We find out that she is a beautiful and kind young woman worshiped by every man in town. It somehow gives us reminiscence to Petrarca`s Beatrice and many others. What we mean, is that Rosaline, as a stock, character, is the reflection of the Medieval fashion to worship the beautiful women, often without even knowing them personally.
The round character is usually a black sheep. You are never really sure whether it is a positive character or not, he is very unpredictable. This kind of character can often be combined with the part of the main villain.
Archetypal character. Comping back again to Shakespeare`s citizens of Verona, we can also mention Sampson, the Capulet`s servant, who could not read and be even a little bit silly. This is the perfect sample of the archetypal character.

Describe the character

Now when you have already decided about the character you are about to analyze. Try to imagine him or her in flesh and blood. How do they look like? What kind of personality is it? What do you know about your character`s background, what impact did it have on him or her? What does he have to do with the story we find him in? What is his motivation? Try to outline your character. It also works well if you draw your character to help your imagination. You can also check out the character analysis essay examples.

What is also important to observe for the balanced analysis, is the language your character uses. You might have noticed from the real-life experience, that some people that use lots of I, my, me, etc. can often be self-centered and those who use lots of positive adjectives like wonderful, awesome, exciting are often easy-going people with a positive attitude.

What role does the character play?

As we have already said, it is always important to remember, that in any fiction writing the characters are integrated into the story with a certain intention. For example, in «Les Miserables» by Victor Hugo, there was a character, named Enjolras, who was brilliantly played by Aron Tveit in Tom Hooper`s Oscar winning screen adaptation in 2012. This character became the reflection of Hugo`s own ideas about freedom, revolution, and democracy.

Character motivation

This has to be your personal answer to the question, why this character does what he does? Try to understand the reason for his actions no matter whether they are good or bad.

Here, we can take a look at Shakespeare`s «Richard III». In this play, a protagonist is an evil man, who murdered his own nephews to take their crown and violated his young niece. But why did he do it?

Richard was the youngest brother of King Edward. For his whole life, he was treated without any respect as he was severely crippled, no one took him seriously because of his disabilities, women had no interest in him. But when his brother died, he suddenly got a chance to become the king himself and make everyone, who used to laugh at him to show respect and admiration.

Another necessary thing to mention in this kind of writing is the progress your character has accomplished throughout the book. As we know, every book is a journey not only for the readers but also for the characters. In most of the cases the characters, especially if you are observing the protagonist, make their way during the book. Sometimes they change in a good way, — in a bad way.

How to write an essay on character

Image Source: healthykidstoday.org How to write an essay on character

480 Words Short Essay on Character

Character has been defined as “the distinctive mark of an individual.” What that mark is going to be, depends partly upon nature, but largely on environment and training.

Children are initiative creatures, but they are also endowed with reason; and character is formed, first, by inculcating ideas of right and wrong in the minds of the young and, secondly, by the exercise on the part of the children of the reasoning power on questions of right and wrong.

All men more or less are the architects or builders of their own characters, and, if the structure is to be a fine one, the work must be commenced as early as possible.

Character depends upon imitation, tastes, talents and habits. Imitation, in the case of the young child, is instinctive and not connected with reason, but as he grows older he chooses what to imitate.

Image Source: healthykidstoday.org

Then is the time for education to step in and point out what is worthy of imitation and what is unworthy, and thus he will learn to select the best models for imitation.

Ideals of self-control, courage, benevolence, truthfulness, honesty and purity, should constantly be held up for the admiration of the young. They should be encouraged to read the biographies of great men, that they may be inspired by their example.

It is to be remembered, however, that tastes and talents vary, and that children may not develop in the same direction and yet may be developing on right lines.

Thus, Benjamin West was inspired by a passion for painting, Mendelssohn lived for music, Stephenson was influenced by the steam engine at the pit’s mouth, and Pope began, as a child, to write imitations of the poets.

Just as the handwriting of no two children is alike, so no two characters are exactly similar, and different persons are attracted by different examples.

Though these diversities of taste should be allowed full scope, it should never be forgotten that honour, purity and charity should be the common aim of all, what-ever their talents.

Another important factor in the formation of character is habit. It is by habit that character is fixed, just as it is by conduct that it is indicated. The practice of shirking work quickly grows and, if allowed to obtain a firm hold, will be found most difficult to eradicate.

One lie will lead to another; the conscience will become accustomed to wounds and finally cease to protest. Indulgence in vice may, if frequently practiced, very quickly become almost a necessity, and so sap the powers that the vicious become a burden to themselves and to others.

On the contrary good habits, though more difficult to form than bad habits, are within the power of all who are not radically weak, and, once formed, will result in the production of a healthy man, a worthy citizen, a dutiful son and a wise father.

How to write an essay on character