Direct Characterization In The Lifeguard

After writing my creative writing stories, I have discovered an abundance about grabbing the reader through dialogue and characterization. The short story The Lifeguard, by Mary Morris, taught me to understand how and when to describe characters. By using direct and indirect characterization, which can be seen in the beginning of the short story, ”I’d have to hold them at bay. They’d offer to buy me things-Cokes, hot dogs-and rub cream on my back while I sat like an idol”. Morris showed me a picture of what the lifeguard looked like and how he acted, which enticed me to continue reading. I was able to grasp that characterization can be seen through describing a person's clothes, where they live and what they do for a living. Morris also used …show more content…
and Mrs. Dice: “The Dice’s, the somewhat older couple who sat in first class sipping on martinis. I remember them because they read the New York Post, and the Hollywood Esquire. They were from New York and lived on Fifth Avenue in a penthouse apartment where they had servants at their fingertips,” In this passage I put in detail describing the couple using indirect like “Servants at their fingertips” which allows the readers to infer that the Dices’ come from an upper class lifestyle. Direct characterization can be seen: “somewhat older couple” this comes right out and tells the reader that they are older. The weekly writers workshop helped me to see how others react and if they understood my story while reading. Before the readers read my piece of writing, I made intentional decisions in my writing like major time changes and a more fast pace type of writing, which I thought would benefit my writing. I also thought that the readers would fully comprehend my many characters that I included. The writer’s group help me to know that some readers were not comprehending my story, due to the many characters that could need to be described in more detail and that the many changes in the setting also threw people