Characterization and It's the Law

I first read some of Jim Lee's prose in the anthology of Fort Worth stories - Literary Fort Worth for a Texas Literature class that he co-taught at Tarrant County College with Dr. Ruth McAdams.  In his short story "It's the Law," Lee uses several characterization techniques discussed in Josip Novakovich's chapter on characters.  For example, we learned a lot about one of the main characters in the story, Melvin Spruille just from the dialogue between Isham Hayes, the judge, and Banty when Hayes first comes into the courtroom to pay the twenty-five dollar fine.  Another technique that Lee uses is describing the characters through appearance.  We know that Hayes is a mechanic because Lee describes him pulling out a greasy roll of bills from the pocket of his coveralls (2). 

Lee does a great job of summarizing Spruille's miserly ways when Hayes explains why he wanted to beat Spruille up in the first place.  It's amusing that despite the fact that he had harbored this grudge for twenty-five years, he waited for a day when Spruille would not have his glasses on.  Hayes says, "You know, Texas don't let you hit a feller with glasses.  It's against the law" (16). 

Novakovich's chapter on characters and Lee's story have inspired me to continue working on my story about a family growing up in Utopia, Texas during the early 1900s.  I can see now how I can make my story more interesting by using some of the techniques that were described in the chapter to round out the personalities of my characters rather than making them flat.  I definitely agree with Novakovich that combining two or more approaches will improve the characterization of the people in my story.