Character Traits and Making Inferences

Making inferences means to make an educated guess or to assume something. Implying something is almost the opposite, to hint someone or to say something with a hinted message in it. Usually in a story of any kind, we make inferences of characters base on what we read. Our inferences can be constantly changing because we are constantly receiving new information from the story about the character. Informations that help us infer the character's characteristics are the action of the character, the emotional and physical response it has toward a situation, or sometimes we can know what's going through the character's mind. A character's thought is the best way to define a character because a character's action can be totally different then who he is. For example, if a hypocrite saved a puppy just for the reward promised and we don't know what he's thinking of the reward, we might think he is a hero without flaw with a good heart. Knowing a character's thought can really help define a character and help readers make inferences about the character. Even if you know the thought of a character, it doesn't necessarily means you understand it because a character's thought can always change throughout a story. The best way to identify and infer a character's trait is to know its actions and thoughts.