Blog Post #2- Questioning Characters

Tuesday’s with Morrie consists of both round and flat characters throughout the novel. In my opinion there is only two round characters that serve most importance within the story line and those characters are Mitch and Morrie. The author includes characteristics of Mitch and Morrie whether its who they are as a person or what their appearances consist of. The characters are fully developed throughout the duration of the novel. Any other characters that have been introduced have been characters that serve minor importance but to possibly go more in-depth and add detail to the two main characters. These characters would be considered flat and one of the characters would consist of Morrie’s wife, Charlotte. Another flat character would be Morrie’s caretaker, Connie. There is no in-depth consistence’s with these characters; they come and go without much detail of who they are or what they look like.

The round character’s serve much purpose of the story. Tuesday’s with Morrie’s whole story is based off the two characters knowing each other in the past and being brought together again due to Morrie’s illness. Throughout each chapter details are brought to attention to get to know these round characters. Within the dialogue Mitch makes a statement about himself, “Getting fat and going bald happened. I traded lots of dreams for a bigger paycheck and I didn’t even realise that I was doing it.” (Tuesday’s with Morrie, p.33). This statement is a brief description of who Mitch is, how he feels and what he looks like. Mitch also describes Morrie on multiple occasions throughout the novel and one example consists of, “Through his courage, his humour, his patience, and his openness—that Morrie was looking at life through a different place than anyone I know. A healthier place.” (Tuesday’s with Morrie, Albom, p.63). This statement refers to who is Morrie is as a person and what kind of mindset he has.  

The flat character’s in the novel seem to have minor roles such as to serve an agenda or purpose to the round characters; the main characters. An example would be Morrie’s wife, Charlotte, at the beginning of the novel she has a small part of dialogue during the time Morrie is finding out that he has ALS. Charlotte was supportive and worrisome for her husband and asks the neurologist questions about the disease. The author states how she is emotionally feeling after they leave but the character isn’t expanded on from that point on. (Tuesday’s with Morrie, Albom, p.7, p.8). Also, Morrie has a caretaker by the name of Connie who is brought into the dialogue in many occasions, but the author doesn’t include characteristics besides her ethnicity. An example would include when Mitch goes to visit Morrie for the first time in many years; he states, “One of the helpers, a stout Italian woman named Connie, cut up bread and tomatoes and brought containers of chicken salad.” (Tuesday’s with Morrie, Albom, p. 28). The description of Connie is very vague, and the author doesn’t include anything with significant importance regarding her characteristics.

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/round-vs-flat-characters-in-fiction#4-tips-for-writing-round-characters