A Solitary Blue Character Analysis

A Solitary Blue

How does a person make a fictional character come alive? We call them fictional for, they are from fictional works of literature. However, that does not mean a author of a story cannot make them seem as if they could live in our world. Similar to how Cynthia Voigt makes her main character Jeff Greene come alive in her book A Solitary Blue. Cynthia Voigt makes Jeff Greene seem realistic through various author’s crafts. Sensory imagery, description of setting and dialogue.

Sensory imagery is one of the three ways that Jeff Greene comes to life. Sensory imagery is making the world in the book seem more alive by describing what the character is observing and/or feeling. “Jeff saw a log moving on the shallow bank opposite: an

alligator, as brown as the mud beneath the grasses…he’d never been so frightened in his life” (Voigt 136-137). In the text he described what he was observing, feeling and experiencing like any other person would do so in real life. Sensory imagery is however not the only way Jeff Greene comes to life.

Description of setting is another of the three ways that Jeff Greene comes to life.

Description of setting is how an author ( Cynthia Voigt ) or a character may describe a setting they are currently in or have experienced. “He awoke to a sky the color of thick smoke. All stars faded but one: Venus, the morning star, low on the eastern horizon, large and white…then he turned to go back.” (Voigt 147). The way he describes the setting is if you could actually be there in real life. Description of setting is the second to last way Jeff Greene comes to life. However, it is not that last.

Dialogue is one of the ways Jeff Greene comes to life. Dialogue is what a character says and how they interact with others verbally or, through other methods of communication.“ ‘It’ll be good to get back to work, wont it?’ the Professor asked Jeff. Jeff said yes” (Voigt 16). Jeff is shown to be someone who doesn’t want conflict since, giving a simple ‘Yes’ answer gave him a personality making him seem like a real person. Dialogue is shown to be another important way of how Jeff Greene comes to life along with the other author’s craft

Cynthia Voigt through author’s craft makes her character from A Solitary Blue Jeff Greene seem alive through Sensory imagery, description of setting and dialogue. Making the world in the book seem more realistic and Jeff seem more human which is not always an easy task to do. Jeff Greene is a fictional character in a book yet, Cynthia Voigt makes him seem like someone

you could meet in everyday life.