Student+Sample+Responses

Sample by Sammi B.
In __Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone__, J. K. Rowling describes Hagrid in a way that makes him, in a way, Harry's savior. Hagrid rescues the famous wizard Harry Potter from the grip of his anti-magic aunt and uncle. While Hagrid is introduced by banging down the door, it is clear that he is a likeable character on Harry's side. When Hagrid "fitted [the door] easily back into its frame," it shows that while he may be extremely messy and slightly rude, he obviously has his heart in the right place. This, along with twisting Uncle Vernon's gun into a knot, shows his immense strength. Hagrid's messy hair and tangled beard show that he may not be the most self-conscious person. However, Rowling spends only a short time describing his messy looks since the reader should only judge a small part of him by his looks. Uncle Vernon makes funny noises around Hagrid after (pathetically) attempting to intimidate the giant into leaving. This helps Rowling get the readers on Hagrid's side, due to the way she previously set up Uncle Vernon so negatively. When Hagrid tells Harry he's "got summat fer yeh here -- I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right," he's showing his clumsy, yet caring and considerate side. After Harry received no recognition from the Dursleys on his 11th birthday, the cake Hagrid brings is much appreciated, and the fact that he had sat on the cake foreshadows Hagrid's sidetracked character very well. The quote also shows Hagrid's horrific grammar. Hagrid is protrayed as an uneducated man, but the reader can't help but smile at him and his mannerisms.

Sample by Karolina T.
In the beginning of the first chapter of __Marked__, the authors, Kristin and P. C. Cast, introduce the main character, Zoey. We're thrown into the middle of a conversation between Zoey and her best friend, Kayla. The authors display Zoey's sense of humor in the first sentence by saying, "Just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse, I saw the dead guy by my locker." We also get to see what she thinks about herself: "more evidence of my freakish inability to fit in." We also learn that Zoey has a very broken relationship with her parents because of her step-father, that she so fondly calls "step-loser." Zoey confirms the relationship is bad when she "shared a long-suffering look, in total agreement about the latest injustice committed against me by my mom and the step-loser she'd married 3 years ago." The authors also show us that Zoey knows how to hide her emotions when she says, "My eyes dried instantly. I was good at hiding tears." We can also tell that Zoey is a good listener because she listens to everything Kayla has to say, no matter how irrelevant. Overall, we're set up to believe that Zoey is a good character.