Subliminal Passages

Two ways the author tells us about the main character are through direct information and subliminal hints. What I mean by that is that the author tells us direct information about the character (example: “Bobita has green hair”, meaning Bobita’s hair is green). The author can also write a line that is subliminal, and causes us to infer and understand said line (example: “Bobita spilled milk, and cried as usual”, meaning Bobita has a tendency to get emotional even if it is not necessary. An example of direct information from the story is “I have light brown, almost-red hair…” An example of a subliminal hint is “I was wishing I looked like Paul Newman...” This phrase tells us, that like most people, Ponyboy has some insecurities.

Three subcategories