Question

Which sentence is an example of direct characterization?

Answer 1

Answer:

Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy.

Explanation:

The given question refers to the story The Gift of the Magi written by O. Henry.

Characterization is the process in which an author creates and describes their characters to their readers. There are two main types of characterization:

• Direct characterization - the author explicitly (directly) describes their character. For example, the author could explicitly tell about the character's appearance, feelings, desires, life philosophy, etc.
• Indirect characterization - we find out more about the character through their actions, feelings, interaction with other characters, appearance, etc.

The first sentence is an example of direct characterization. Here, the author explicitly describes his character's appearance. The rest of the sentences are examples of indirect characterization because they include descriptions of actions, based on which we need to make additional conclusions about the characters. There is no explicit information about them.

This is why the first option is the correct one.