Character Development In The Alligators By John Updike

To show show character development throughout the story “The Alligators” Author John Updike uses symbolism, descriptive language, and dialogue. The story begins when a beautiful young girl, named Joan joins their school and everyone is cruel to her, at first. Then around the middle of the story Charlie thinks he’s fallen in love with her, because of a dream he has, and so he tells everyone and tries to talk to Joan. However at the end of the story everyone becomes nicer Joan and it’s revealed that she was popular along. Throughout the story the author uses different techniques to hint at the ending. By using techniques such as dialogue the to set up a problem and raise the stakes. It’s possible John Updike wrote this story to show how stuff …show more content…
For example on page 6 paragraph 9 John Updike shows more of Charlie's personality while he is talking to Joan, he does this by writing about how Charlie tried to be funny and impress her while they talked. I think he does this to show that while Charlie is sure he loves her he also is scared that she’ll reject him. Plus Charlie is still a young kid and is pretty insecure about her which shows in the way he talks to her. Furthermore on page one, paragraph when Joan is saying “..but I don’t see what is the point of homework.” is a good example of the author using dialogue. The way the author has Joan speak is the complete opposite of the way Charlie talks. It's feasible that the author does this to to show the differences in Charlie and Joan’s characters. By showing Joan talking all prim and proper a hint of Joan’s personality shines through the way she talks. By using dialogue throughout his story John Updike gives personality to the characters whose thoughts readers aren’t privy …show more content…
By using the symbol of Joan’s hair to slowly reveal that the kids actually liked Joan the whole time and were mostly likely only cruel to her at first because she was beautiful. Furthermore John Updike also uses descriptive language to help set up a problem. He does this by describing things that seem mundane at first and then revealing their importance later on. Last but not least is the dialogue that the author uses through the story to show hints of different character's personality. From beginning to end John Updike, author of “The Alligators” is able to set up a problem and show character development by using symbolism, dialogue and descriptive