Character and Characterization of Anna and The French Kiss novel by Stephanie Perkins

I was analyzing Anna and the French Kiss novel by Stephanie Perkins as my thesis in bachelor degree. so, here I want to share some part of my analysis. they are character in the novel and the characterization of the main character. if you have been read this novel too, such a kind if you want to add any advice or comments. Thank you

This novel consists of several main characters and several minor characters. They are explained as follows:

1. Characters

            a) Major Character

                        The major character can be analyzed in three groups: a) the protagonist, b) the antagonist, c) the companion. The protagonist is usually the heroine that plays an important role in the story. The protagonist in this novel is the main character. The name is Anna Olliphant. She is the most discussed in the story, and appears many times from beginning of the story until the end.

            The antagonist in a novel usually refers to the enemy or the challenger or the protagonist. In the novel Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, the antagonist is Amanda. She is Anna’s Schoolmate who crushed on St. Clair but one side love. Although she is Anna’s classmate but sometimes she will be challenger for Anna.

            The companion or partner is someone who is usually helped by close friend or by a reputable person. In this novel the companion is Anna’s lover, his named St. Clair. He always appears when Anna needs his help.

b) Minor Characters

The minor characters in this novel are friends and family of Anna. Several characters and characterizations of the minor characters as follows:

1)      James Ashley/Anna’s Father

      James Ashley is Anna’s father pen name.  Anna’s father sent her to the boarding School (SOAP) in Paris. He is novelist.

The quotation :

            “My dad is a novelist.” I blurt this without thinking and immediately regret it.

            “Really? Who?”

            “James Ashley.” That’s his pen name. I guess Oliphant wasn’t romantic enough.

            “Who?”

            The humiliation factor multiplies. “The Decision? The Entrance? They were made into movies. Forget it, they all have vague names like that-“

            She leans forward, exited. “No, my mom loves The Entrance!”

            I wrinkle my nose.

            “They aren’t that bad. I watched The Entrance with her once and totally cried when that girl died of leukemia”. (Perkins,2013:34)

2)      Anna’s Mother

Anna’s mother is the one of Anna’s power to keep struggle. She is so caring and love her daughter so much. The following quotation shows Anna’s mother as follows:

My mother lingers behind. “You’ll have a wonderful year here,” she says. “I just know it.” I bite my lip to keep it from quivering, and she sweeps me into her arms. I try to breathe. Inhale. Count to three. Exhale. Her skin smells like grapefruit body lotion. “I’ll call you the oment I get home,” she says.

Home. Atlanta isn’t my home anymore

“I love you, Anna.”

I’mcrying now. “ I love you, too. Take care of Seany for me.”

“Of course.”(Perkins,2013:7)

3)      Seany

Sean is Anna’s brother. He is seven years old. The following quotation shows that Sean is Anna’s brother as follows:

            And I still can’t believe she’s separating me from my brother, Sean, who is only seven and way too young to be left home alone after school. (Perkins,2013 :6)

            “Bridge is a ROCK STAR,” Seany says from the backseat. His voice is filled with adoration.

            Uh-oh. Someone has a crush. “Oh, yeah?”

            “She says her band is gonna be on MTV someday, but not the lame one, one of the cool ones you can only get with a special cable package.”

            I turn around. My brother look strangely smug. “And how do you know about special cable packages?” (Perkins,2013:215)

4)      Bridgete

Bridgette is Anna’s best friend in Atlanta. She is drummer for Toph’s band. The following quotation shows that Bridgete  is Anna’s best friend as follows:

Mom says I need to lose the bitter factor, pronto, but she’s not the one leaving behind her fabulous best friend, Bridgette. (Perkins, 2013:6)

5)      Crishtopeher

Christopher has a nickname as Toph. He is Anna’s crush before she leaves for SOAP. He begins dating Bridgette when Anna in SOAP and it angering Anna. The following quotation shows that Anna crush on Toph as follows:

“His real name is Christopher, but he hates being called Chris, so he goes by Toph instead. He has shocking green eyes and wicked sideburns. We’re both left-handed, we both love the fake nacho cheese at the concession stand, and we both hate Cuba Gooding Jr. I’ve crushed on Toph since my first day on the job, when he stuck his head under the ICEE machine and guzzled it straight from the tap to make me laugh. He had Blue Raspberry Mouth for the rest of this shift. (Perkins,2013:45)

6)      Meredith

Meredith is Anna’s friend in Paris. She loves soccer and has a crush on St. Clair. Anna know how Meredith feels, so she keeps her crush on him a secret. The following quotation shows that Meredith is Anna’s friend in Paris as follows:

“Hello?” a girl calls from the hallway. “Hello? Are you okay?”

No, I ‘m not okay. GO AWAY. But she calls again, and I’m obligated to crawl off my bed and answer the door. A blonde with long, tight curls waits on the other side. She’s tall and big, but not overweight-big. Volleyball player big. A diamond like nose ring sparkles in the hall light. “Are you all right?” Her voice is gentle. “I’m Meredith; I live next door. Were those your parents who just left?” (Perkins:2013:10)

7)      Josh

Josh is Anna’s friend at SOAP and St. Clair’s best friend. His girlfriend is Rashmi. He is an artist. The following quotation shows that Josh is Anna’s friend as follows:

            Josh is quite and reserved in class, but outside of it, his sense of humor is similar to St. Clair’s. its easy to understand why they’re such good friends. Meredith say they idolize each other, Josh because of St. Clair’s innate charisma, and St.Clair because Josh is an astounding artist. I rarely see Josh without his brush and pen or sketchbook. His work is incredible-thick bold strokes and teeny exquisite details-and his fingers are always stained with ink. (Perkins, 2013 : 52)

8)      Rashmi

Rashmi is another Anna’s friend at the SOAP. She is Josh girlfriend. The following quotation shows that Rashmi is Anna’s friend as follows:

A lucky guy with short hair and a long nose salutes me with his coffee cup. “Josh,” he says. “And Rashmi.” He nods to the girl next to him, who holds his other hand inside the front pocket of his hoodie. Rashmi has blue-framed glasses and thick black hair that hangs all the way down her back. She gives me only the barest of acknowledgments. (Perkins,2013:22)

9)      Ellie

Ellie is Etienne St. Clair steady girlfriend. She is a year older than Anna. The following quotation shows that Ellie is St. Clair’s girlfriend as follows:

            They break apart, and she starts talking. Her voice is surprisingly low-sultry-but she speaks rapidly. “I know we weren’t gonna see each other tonight, but I was in the neighborhood and thought you might want to go to that club I was telling you about. You know, the one Matthieu recommended? But you weren’t there, so I found Mer and I’ve been talking to her for the last hour, and where were you? I called your cell three times but it went straight to voice mail.”

            St. Clair looks disoriented. “er. Ellie, this is Anna. She hadn’t left the dorm all week, so I thought I’d show her –“

            To my amazement Ellie breaks into an ear-to-ear smile. Oddly enough, it’s this moment I realize that despite her husky voice and Parisian attire, she’s sort of… plain. But friendly-looking. (Perkins,2013 : 91)

2.       Characterization of the main character

a.       The Protagonist

      The protagonist in the novel Anna and the French Kiss is Anna Oliphant. The characterization of Anna Oliphant as follows:

1)         Caring

Anna is a caring person. She cares about her friend’s problem, about St. Clair mom disease, and her family. The following quotation shows that Anna is a independently person as follows:

  “ So, um. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but how’s she doing?” The words spill from my mouth before I can stop them. “Is the radiation therapy making her tired? Is she eating enough? I read that if you don’t put on lotion every night, you can get burns, and I was just wondering. . .”I trail off, seeing his expression. It’s as if I’ve sprouted tusks. “I’m sorry. I’m being noisy, I’ll shut-“

“No,” he interrupts. “it ‘s not that. It’s just . . . you’re the first person who ‘s known any of that. How . . .  how did.. .?”

  “Oh, um. I was worried, so I did some research. You know, so I’d . . . .know,” I finish lamely.

  He’s quite  for a moment. “ Thank you.” (Perkins,2013:173)

         And I still can’t believe she’s separating me from my brother, Sean, who is only seven and way too young to be left home alone after school. Without me, he’ll probably be kidnapped by that creepy guy down the road who has dirty Coca-Cola towels hanging in his windows. Or Seany will accidentally eat something containing Red Dye #40 and his throat will swell up and no one will be there to drive him to the hospital. He might even die. And I bet they wouldn’t let me fly home for this funeral and I’d have to visit the cemetery alone next year and Dad will have picked out some god-awful granite cherub to go over his grave. (Perkins, 2013:6)

2)         Smart

     Anna is a smart girl. Being a new American student in Paris is not easy as usual student. She needs more effort to save her academic. This characterization of Anna shows when she was accepted into all of the schools she applied. The following quotation shows that Anna is a smart person as follows.

For the first time, it strikes me how competitive this school is. Students here take studying seriously, and the dormitory is almost as quite as it was when they were gone for Thanksgiving.

     Letters arrive from universities. I’ve been accepted into all of the schools I applied to, but there’s hardly time to celebrate.(Perkins,2013:195)

3)         Independently

Anna is independently person especially when she arrived in Paris and has to do anything by herself. She always try to speak in Parisian and do some transaction by herself in Friday night. The day when all students have a free day from the boarding school to go out. The following quotation shows that Anna is a independently person as follows.

4)         Anxious

Anna felt so panics when she arrived in Paris. She has a big worried if she can’t survive in her new life because of her France language ability.

I feel it coming, but I can’t stop it.

PANIC

They left me. My parents actually left me! IN FRANCE1

Meanwhile, Paris is oddly silent. Even the opera singer has packed it in for the night. I cannot lose it. The walls here are thinner than Band-Aids, so if I break down, my neighbors-my new classmates- will hear everything. I’m going to be sick. I’m going to vomit that weird eggplant tapenade. I had for dinner, and everyone will hear, and no one will invite me to watch the mimes escape from their invisible boxes, or whatever it is people do here in their spare time. (Perkins, 2013: 9)

     In other situation, she slept before she has to go Atlanta. Fortunately, she has the same ticket flight with St. Clair so, he help Anna to packing and prepare to run the time. The following quotation shows that Anna is a anxious person as follows.

                 We’re going to miss our flight. We’re going to miss it, and it’s my fault. And who knows when the next plane will leave, and we’ll be stuck here all day, and I’ll never make it in time for Bridge and Toph’s show. And St. Clair mom will cry when she has to go to the hospital without him for her first round of internal radiation, because he’ll be stuck in an airport on the other side of the world, and it’s ALL.MY.FAULT.(Perkins, 2013 : 204)

5)         Friendly

Anna is a friendly person. The following quotation shows that Anna is a friendly person as follows.

I step forward and say my name as kindly as possible, to make up for the jerk who just left. She gives a dimpled smile back. “I remember you, sweetie. Have a nice first day.” And she hands me a half sheet of yellow paper. (Perkins, 2013: 31)

6)         Talkative

Anna is talkative person because she can’t let the situation quite and an awkward moment. The following quotation shows that Anna is a talkative person as follows.

I give him a funny look and return to Mer. She’s upset, too, and I’m afraid I’ve missed something. No, I know I’ve missed something. I babble to cover the peculiar silence. “I’m so happy to be going home. My flight leaves at, like, six in the morning this Saturday, so I have to get up insanely early, but it’s worth it. I should make it in plenty of time to see the Penny Dreadfuls. (Perkins, 2013: 200)

7)         Clean

Anna loves rules, tidy and being clean. The following quotation shows that Anna is a clean person as follows.

“I wish I could have a room like this.” I love it, but I’m too much of a neat freak to have a room something like it for myself. I need clean walls and a clean desktop and everything put away in its right place all times. (Perkins,2013 :13)

8)         Jealous

            But then, just as I feel those twinges again, he disappears. I’ll be staring out my window after dinner, watching the sanitations workers tidy the street in their bright green uniforms, when he’ll emerge from our dorm and vanish toward the metro.

            Toward Ellie. (Perkins, 2013:94)

9)         Coward

Anna too coward to stopping Meredith as her new friend go to School. The following quotation shows that Anna is a Coward person as follows:

“ The next  morning, I consider stopping by Meredith’s, but I chicken out and walk to breakfast by myself. At least I know where the cafeteria is (Day Two: Life Skills Seminars). (Perkins,2013:18)

10)     Curious

           He nods toward Rashmi and Mer. “They don’t. but St.Clair dad is piece of work.”

           “ So, I hear.” Curiosity gets the best of me, and I lower my voice. “What’s his deal?”

           Josh shrugs. “He’s just a jerk. He keeps a tight leash on St.Clair and his mom, but he’s really friendly to everyone else. Somehow that makes it worse.”

11)     Brave

               One place, please. I double-checked my pronunciation before stepping up to the box office and sliding over my euros. The woman selling tickets doesn’t blink, just rips my ticket in half and hands me the stub. I accept it graciously and stammer my thanks. Inside the theater, an usher examines my stub. She tears it slightly, and I know from watching my friends that I’m supposed to give her a small tip for this useless tradition. I touch the Canadian patch for luck, but I don’t need it. The handoff is easy.

               I did it. I did it!

               My relief is so profound that I hardly notice my feet carve their way into my favorite row. The theater is almost empty. Three girls around my age are in the back, and an elderly couple sits in front of me, sharing a box of candy. Some people finicky about going to the theater alone, but I’m not. Because when the lights go down, the only relationship left in the room is the one between the movie and me. (Perkins,2013: 118)