Which sentence in this excerpt from Mark Twain’s short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is an example of direct characterization?

I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the barroom stove of the old, dilapidated tavern in the ancient mining camp of Angel's, and I noticed that he was fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance. He roused up and gave me good-day. I told him a friend of mine had commissioned me to make some inquiries about a cherished companion of his boyhood named Leonidas W. Smiley — Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley — a young minister of the Gospel, who he had heard was at one time a resident of Angel's Camp. I added, that, if Mr. Wheeler, could tell me anything about this Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, I would feel under many obligations to him.

Simon Wheeler backed me into a corner and blockaded me there with his chair, and then sat me down and reeled off the monotonous narrative which follows this paragraph.

Direct Characterization tells the readers about the personality of the character. So look for personality traits like adjectives that describe this character. You can also look for a direct nod to one of the character's traits, hobbies, etc.

Answer Link

mcarc09 mcarc09 · Answer 2 · 2019-08-15T22:22:27+02:00

Answer:

The sentence is "and I noticed that he was fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance."

Explanation:

Direct characterization happens when an author describes a character through descriptive adjectives or phrases. That means, instead of hinting what the character is like through their actions and behavior, the author describes them in a straightforward manner. That happens in the following sentence extracted from the excerpt we are analyzing here:

[...] and I noticed that he was fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance.