Characters and Characterization
Techniques in Gale’s “Bill”
Parlindungan Pardede
parlpard2020@gmail.com
Introduction
In fiction, characters are defined as “anything
(persons, animals, plants, or other creatures and things} representing people
(Pardede, 2020). In fiction, characters play an important role because they are
the performer who carries the events that establish the story illustrate and
personify the themes. Cuddon (2013) stated that character refers to the person
portrayed in a narrative or dramatic work. Thus, to get the meaning of a story,
the reader should understand the characters’ psychological traits,
personalities, and other attributes.
To present a character, authors can use one or both
of the expository and dramatic method of characterization. The expository
method is conducted by describing a character using explicit statements either
by the author or by another character in the same story. The dramatic method
reveals the character to the readers through action. In the practical level,
this is implemented using five techniques, i.e. showing the character through
how he looks, what he says (his speech), what he thinks (his thought), what he
does (his action), and the other characters’ reaction to him. As a whole, these
six techniques of characterization are abbreviated by Pardede (2020) as EL-STAR
(Expository, Look, Speech, Thought, Action, and Reaction).
This paper analyzes the character and
characterization in Zona Gales’ Bill
(1927). The characters of this short story is interesting to analyze because it
tells about what a widower does when he knows he has only six more months to
live due to his terminal illness. Being in a critical last period of life, how
the main character behaves and acts? How the other characters react? This paper
try to address these questions.
The story starts by describing an ordinary but happy
and compassionate life that Bill and Minna have in the first two years after
Bill’s wife died. But now Bill is convicted to suffer from a terminal disease
and has only six more months to live. After cross-checking up his condition to
some doctors, he advertises on a newspaper that he wants nice people to adopt
Minna. Many wealthy families are interested to adopt Minna, but Bill refuses
them because they look either stern or unwise. Finally, Minna is adopted by a
simple but loving couple. Minna looks happy when she departs with her new
parents.
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Credit: http://caroam03.blogspot.com/2016/12/1-bill-zona-gale-questionnaire-paper-1-1.html |
Discussion
The story employs six characters: Bill, Minna, the
woman next door, the wealthy lady, and the couple who adopt Minna. Among them,
Bill is the major character and the protagonist as well. He is the major
character because he is central to the plot development as the plot and
resolution of conflict revolve around him.
Bill is a young widower. He was 30 years old when
his wife died two years ago. Although he is just an ordinary man, he is a
loving father who tries his best to be a single parent for his little daughter,
Minna. For him, Minna is his entire world. He is a carpenter working in a shop
located in his house’s yard. This enables him to look after Minna, do the house
works, and work at the shop as well. When he should go out, for some hours, he
asks the woman next door to look after Minna. Although he is not very good in
cooking and doing house works, he commits to keep on doing them for Minna and
himself.
Bill is quite religious and believes in the
importance of education. He always prays for Minna and takes her to church. He
escorts Minna to kindergarten in the morning and picks her up in the afternoon.
He also keeps on ensuring that Minna never forgets her night prayer. He is also
a realistic person who knows his ability to educate Minna is limited in some
aspects. He is not very good to guide
Minna in doing school works.
Bill seems gloomy when a doctor diagnoses he suffers
from a terminal illness and has only six more months to live. However, he is
unhappy not because of the illness but he has no idea yet to ensure a good home
for Minna after his death.
Although he is gloomy in the first time he faces the
conflict concerning his terminal illness, Bill is essentially a sensible
person. After making sure of his illness by asking for a second opinion from
another doctor, Bill starts to consider some alternatives to provide a happy
home for Minna. He starts by considering to ask whether one of his relatives
would be a good parent for Minna. But he thinks none of them can understand her
well. He finally decides to look for nice people to adopt Minna. To enable him
to carefully select the prospective parent, he publishes an advertisement in a
city paper.
Bill’s sensibility is well revealed through his
decision to stop Minna kiss him to make their upcoming separation easier and
his selection of the people who are interested to adopt Minna. He declines some
rich families’ intentions as they look stern, unwise, or indifferent. Bill
believes they cannot offer a happy home for Minna. He finally says yes to an
ordinary but loving couple. Bill’s decision is correct as Minna looks happy
when she departs with her new parents.
Gale employs both expository and dramatic methods to
present Bill’s character traits. In the beginning, he is described as a loving,
religious, and realistic father despite his limited ability to do house works
through the author’s explicit statements and his actions. Gale writes: Bill was
thirty when his wife died ... Bill could cook a little, coffee and bacon and
fried potatoes and flapjacks, and he found bananas and sardines and crackers
useful. He swept, all but corners, and he dusted, dabbing at every object; and
he complained that after he had cleaned the windows he could not see as well as
he could before. He washed and patched Minna’s little garments and mended her
doll.
His religiosity and realistic view are also shown
through his actions and thoughts: “He himself used to pray: “Lord, make me do
right by her if you see me doing wrong” and “But he could make little of the
colored paper and the designs and the games, and he did not go again. ‘There’s
something I can’t be any help to her with,’ he thought.
Bill’s sensibility is revealed through various
characterization techniques, i.e. his action, thoughts, speeches, and
reactions. To make their upcoming separation easier, Bill starts to stop Minna
from kissing him: “When she came to kiss him that night, he made an excuse, for
he must never kiss her now. He held her arm’s length, looked in her eyes, said:
Minna’s a big girl now. She doesn’t want Papa to kiss her.” Although it is very
sorrowful for Minna and himself, he consistently forbids Minna to kiss him. At
the night before the loving couple comes to pick up Minna, he does the same:
“When he had tucked her in her bed, he stood in the dark hearing her breathing.
‘I’m a little girl tonight—kiss me,’ she had said, but he shook his head. ‘A
big girl, a big girl,’ he told her.”
His actions, thoughts, speeches, and reactions
towards the people who come and propose to adopt Minna clarify his sensibility.
Seeing that the wealthy lady coming in a limousine is a stern woman, he “said
steadily that he had now other plans for his little girl.” But when the
thoughtful and tender couple comes, Bill becomes very happy. Gale writes: “In
blooming of his hope and his dread, Bill said to them: ‘You’re the ones.’ When
they asked: ‘How long before we can have her?’ Bill said: ‘One day more.’
Minna is the minor character as she has less
influence on the story and serves to complement Bill’s characterization and
supports to move the plot development. Gale presents Minna by employing various
characterization techniques, including the direct statement, look, action, and
reaction. She was four years old when her mother dies and six years when Bill
falls ill. She is an adorable girl. This is stated directly by Bill's statement through
his advertisement: “A man with a few months more to live would like nice people
to adopt his little girl, six, blue eyes, curls.”
She is also a cute kid who follows his father’s
instructions and advises and never causes trouble to his father. These are shown
through her actions and reaction. Although she only plays with a kitten she
does not feel lonely and lets her father works in his shop. For instance, she
obeys Bill not to forget to pray every night: “If she forgot the prayer, he
either woke her up, or else he made her say it the first thing in the morning.”
The only thing she finds difficult to accept is when Bill starts to forbid her
to kiss him: “But her lip curled and she turned away sorrowful.” As a young
girl, she cannot yet understand that Bill decides to do so in order to make
their upcoming separation easier.
The other characters, including the woman next door,
the wealthy lady, and Minna’s adoptive parents are confidants. Each of them
plays a minor role in the story. The woman next door is an impulsive woman. She
is furious when she knows Bill declines the wealthy lady’s proposition to adopt
Minna without trying to understand why he does so. This is shown by Gale
through her actions and speech: “’For the land sake!” said the woman next door
when she heard. “You done her out of fortune. You hadn’t the right—a man in
your health.” And then the other cars came, and he let them go, this woman told
her husband that Bill ought to be reported to the authorities.”
The wealthy lady who comes with a limousine is a
stern and unthoughtful woman. This is shown through her reaction and speech to
her own daughter coming with her to Bill’s house when the little girl cried:
“’Is this my little sister?” On which the woman in the smart frock said
sharply: “Now then, you do as Mama tells you and keep out of this or we’ll
leave you here and take this darling little girl with us.” Perceiving her
character, Bill refuses her intention to adopt Minna.
The couple who finally adopt Minna is loving,
thoughtful, and resilient. Although they had just lost their daughter,
“The woman was not sad—only sorrowful, and the man. Who was tender of her, was
a carpenter.” In addition, their eagerness to adopt Minna is sincere. This is
shown through an action that symbolizes their commitment to providing a safe
future for Minna, i.e. they bring Minna a little blue parasol, and she is very
fond of having the parasol. Gale writes: “This parasol Minna held bobbing above
her head, and she was so absorbed in looking up at the blue silk that she did
not remember to turn and wave her hand.”
Conclusion
Gale’s Bill
includes six characters, among which Bill is the major character, Minna is the
minor character and the other four characters are foils. Gale employs all
characterization techniques to present these characters.
The short story centers on Bill, a 32 years old widower. He is described as a loving father who dedicates his life for his only little daughter Minna. Although he is religious and realistic, he is gloomy and doubtful when he knows he has only six more months to live. His gloom, however, is not due to his illness but because he has no idea yet to ensure a good home for Minna after his death. After considering for some time, Bill’s sensibility becomes dominant. He tries to thinks of the best alternative to ensure a good home for Minna and finally decides to find her loving parents who can understand her. He firmly declines some wealthy families’ propositions because he thinks they cannot understand Minna. He finally lets a loving, thoughtful, resilient, and sincere couple to adopt Minna.
References
Cuddon, J.A. (2013). A dictionary of literary terms and literary
theory (5th Ed.). Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Gale, Zona (1927).
Bill. Retrieved from https://losarciniegas.blogspot.com/2011/02/bill.html
Pardede, Parlindungan
(2020). Characterization in Fiction. Retrieved from:
https://www.weedutap.com/2020/08/characterization-in-fiction.html
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