Literary Analysis #2

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

1) Direct characterization:
- "'Wow" Nate said. "You look great.'" (Page 346)
Nate was Ruby's boyfriend and made a direct characterization when he stated that she looked great.
- "'Aah", he's a good kid, we joke around a lot but I really like him."' (Page 139)
Harriet, Ruby's boss makes a direct characterization about Nate by saying he is a good kid.
Indirect characterization:
- "'Because you're a minor and your mother abandoned you.'" (Page 45)
This is an example of indirect characterization because Cora, Ruby's sister had taken her in when she was abandoned by her mother because she did not want her anymore.
-"' So, you weren't living without heat and water in a filthy house?'" (Page 45)
This is an example of indirect characterization because Cora wants the best for her sister Ruby and wished she gave her a better life than her mother gave her.

Direct Characterization tells readers exactly how the character acts and is like. Indirect characterization is when a reader gets to relate to a character through their actions and story. Sarah Dessen uses both of these characterizations because it gives a bigger idea of who the characters are. Rather than being told this is the character and you can't have any other opinion, this allows you to make your own ideas of each person and to me it gives a longer lasting impression of the character and makes you more intrigued.

2) Sarah Dessen changed her syntax when she started getting more in depth with each character. You do not notice her diction change as it stays the same throughout the entire book. When she would focus on one character she would focus on how they would speak also with emotion. "' I can't,'  he said. 'There is no point. Don't you understand that?'" (Page 362) This is an example of Dessen using emotion as you can feel the anger through the novel as she described a scene with Nate.

3) The protagonist of the book is Ruby, at first she is static and flat but later evolves to be dynamic and round. Ruby at seventeen was abandoned by her mother and lived alone for two months and is certain she can take care of her self as she had done most of her life. Later she is shipped to live with her sister who she thought wanted nothing to do with  her. Ruby soon finds out what it is like to have a family again. It's what she had been missing all along.

4) Whenever I read a book I feel like I become one with the character and find a way to relate to them. I am an emotional reader and I think about a simple line from a novel for a while and interpret it in many ways. I really related to Ruby when she said she had to do things alone and was fine that way. Of course I related in a different way, like school. I didn't relate in a family way but in a way when you feel like you're doing it alone when you don't have to you just need to look and find something that could really shine a light on your path. In Ruby's case it was Cora and her husband Jaime who treated Ruby like a daughter. "'Where the hell have you been?'" (Page 223) Jaime and Cora were worried about Ruby after she came home from a day of ditching school and making them worried. Ruby accepted the fact that she did appreciate them and everything they did for her. I really enjoyed reading this book and relating to each character on a different level.