Profile description: Profile description, also called indirect description, means that in literary creation, the author expresses the object to be described by describing the people or environment around him, making it stand out, that is, indirectly portrays the object to be described.
In general, the portrayal of characters in literary works often adopts the method of positive description, that is, directly through the description of portraits, language, movements, demeanor and psychology, to express the character, conduct and skills of characters. However, sometimes with the help of some side descriptions, the artistic effect of positive description can often be irreplaceable or difficult to achieve. It is a supplement to the positive description. The twists and turns in the profile description of characters can stimulate readers' imagination, enrich the characters and achieve the effect of showing them one by one.
Example:
Positive description:
This man has a strong physique.
This man is very tall.
This man hasn't bathed for several days, and he stinks.
Personal data description:
Because of his size, thieves never dare to talk to him.
Ordinary people always look up when talking to him.
People around him walked away with their noses covered when they passed him.
Extended data:
There are two keys to appearance description:
First, the description of characters should be written according to the needs of plot development, instead of writing portraits every time. You can't write portraits with eyebrows and beards? . For example, in the lesson "One Side", the author described the portrait of Lu Xun three times, highlighting the characteristics of "thinness" and showing the noble quality of Mr. Lu Xun's selfless work for the revolution and breaking down from constant overwork.
Second, the description of appearance should not be formulaic, and plastic surgery should not be done. In general, "people are like their faces." However, people's heart and appearance are not always the same, and a beautiful appearance is not necessarily a beautiful soul. Moreover, "knowing people knows their faces but not their hearts." Good people written in excellent works are not necessarily beautiful and handsome in appearance; Bad guys are not all pockmarked, blind and lame.
For example, in Notre Dame de Paris, the bell ringer is ugly, but his heart is extremely kind. In A Dream of Red Mansions, Wang Xifeng looks very beautiful, but her heart is like a snake and scorpion. In this way, it does not mean that the description of a character's appearance and personality quality must be reversed, but written according to the specific characteristics of the character.
Psychological description should pay attention to the following three principles:
First, to write about the psychological activities of a character, it is necessary to write about the psychological activities that a specific character will inevitably produce in a specific environment, rather than describing it for psychological description.
Second, when writing about psychological activities, we should prevent one psychological activity from being left and the other from being right. When key plots, actions and expressions appear, they are accompanied by psychological descriptions.
Third, when writing about psychological activities, we should try our best to write about the subtle emotional fluctuations and complex psychological changes of the characters.
Action description should grasp two principles:
First, personality should be revealed from one's own actions;
Second, the actions of the characters should be chosen to show their character. Therefore, the purpose of describing the actions of characters should be very clear;
Third, we should pay attention to the vividness and typicality of characters' actions. The so-called vividness means that the author should write not only what the character is doing, but also how he does it. The so-called typicality means that the author wants to write why the characters do this and not do that.
Front and side descriptions are combined, supplemented by side contrast.
This is the most widely used contour description. When depicting the front, it is either the character, the environment or the touch of things.
For example, Lu Xun's novel "Kong Yiji" describes in detail Kong Yiji's first appearance and last appearance, but the story about Kong Yiji being beaten by Ding in the article is explained by the client and belongs to profile description, which promotes the development of the story and makes the transition of the article very natural and ingenious.
Another example is Bai Juyi's Pipa Journey, which describes the wonderful performance of the pipa girl from the front, and shows the charm of the pipa girl's performance from the side with "the east boat is quiet and the west boat is quiet, and we see the white autumn moon entering the heart of the river" as a foil from the external environment.
If it is not suitable for frontal description, it will be rendered with profile description.
Profile description can not only fill the unspeakable blank of positive description, but also vividly present the wonderful and beautiful things that the description object is difficult to know.
The description of Xia in Lu Xun's novel Medicine is mainly accomplished through the discussion between the executioner and the tea drinker. I think on the one hand, it is difficult for Mr. Lu Xun to describe Yu Xia from the front, because the image of Yu Xia written by Mr. Lu Xun is based on the revolutionary Qiu Jin, and Lu Xun's understanding of the revolutionaries at that time is limited. It may be difficult to describe them positively, and even if they are written, it is difficult to publish them in the current environment. On the other hand, more importantly, Lu Xun showed the people's incomprehension of the revolution through the conversation between the executioner and the tea drinker.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Introduction Description? Baidu Encyclopedia-Positive Description