What does characterization mean?

Characterization is the combination of all of the things an
author does to create the personality of a character in a piece of literature. There are several
techniques an author can use, and good author's usually use a blending of all of the techniques
in order to create a well-rounded picture of the person. Here are the most common
techniques:

1. What the narrator directly
   states.


2. What the character
   does.


3. What the character
   thinks.


4. What the character
   says.


5. What other characters say about
   the character.

As a reader, you get to
know characters by considering all of the above pieces of the person. For example, if the
narrator directly tells us that a character is strong, then we store away that piece of
information. On the next page, the character picks up his own car in order to move it into the
garage. Now we have a detail of what he does that reinforces what we already learned. On the next
page the characters thinks about getting to the gym for his next workout. That thought also
contributes to his characterization by revealing what the character thinks about and what is
important to him. On the next page, the character says, "If you need your car moved, just call
me!" Then what he says reveals his character. First, he is a nice, helpful guy, but also, that he
is very strong. On the last page, his friend remarks, "Wow, I didn't think he could do it, but he
picked up the car!" Then the comments of other characters reinforce the
characterization.

The above example is simple, but it gives you an
idea of how all of the techniques work together to play off of one another and reinforce the
characterization that the author is trying to craft. With longer works, there will be several
facets to the characterization, but the techniques will still be the
same.