The Characters in a Historical Novel “Ka Bordin” by “Wannawat”: Presentation Techniqes

Abstract

This study investigated the techniques to present the characters in a historical novel “Ka Bordin” by an author “Wannawat”.

            According to the outcome, there were 2 techniques in presenting the characters including 1) Direct characterization and 2) Indirect characterization. Particularly, the direct characterization was divided into 2 styles: 1) the characterization by author and 2) the characterization by other characters; meanwhile, the implicit characterization was classified into 3 styles: 1) Character’s behavior- based characterization, 2) Character’s conversation-based characterization, and 3) Character’s thought- based characterization. Specifically, the author presented the characters really existing in the history by giving the information as much as mentioned in the historical evidences to prevent any historical distortion. In term of the characterization, the author’s designed characters could be described once in several styles; for example, one character could be described by both conversation-based and action-based characterizations. Accordingly, the direct characterization was found more often than the indirect one because this novel was a historical story in which all characters should be described with the real details and the same appearance as mentioned in the history.