<span>
The
screen door opens and Goodman comes out, a man in his early forties who
first greets them smiling and then letting the smile fade as he sees
the faces.</span>
Direct characterization is when the author directly tells readers
of some trait or characteristic of a character instead of letting readers
conclude anything about a character based upon a character’s actions. If we look at all of the possible answers for
this question, all except speak of actions that lead readers to determine
characteristics. One, however, blatantly
speaks of how old a person is. With the
words, “a man in his early forties,” the author directly tells readers about
the character, thus, the second answer is an example of direct
characterization.
This would be "in media res" meaning "in the middle of things." It begins, quite frankly, in the middle of things and carries on from there.
