Stories have characters who are people, animals, or objects that have been given human qualities. Characters are influenced by the plot or setting of the story. 

We analyse characters in a story to identify their traits (physical and personality traits) and feelings (emotions and responses)1. 

A character’s feelings are the emotions they have in response to a specific situation. They can change over time.

Character traits are words we use to describe someone. These words might describe the way someone looks (physical characteristics) or describe their personality (inner qualities). 

• When analysing a character, we can think FAST! This helps us explore the character's Feelings, Actions, Speech, and Thoughts1.

• We identify personality traits by making inferences based on the character’s  feelings, thoughts and actions. 

• For instance, if the author says: He was always ready to answer any question his teacher posed, but he would forget to raise his hand first. We can infer from his responses and actions that a trait of the character is excited5. 

The FAST Approach!

Analysing the character in a story, helps us to infer their traits. We can draw inferences based on the textual evidence2.