Character Assignment

C. Observations of Personal Characteristics
Gender: Male
Age: Mid to late 30s?
Physical Appearance: Very tall, muscular, black man. Short hair. Wore a grey shirt, shorts, and sunglasses. 
Education: I would guess not very well educated, due to the way he spoke.
Marital Status: Married
Ethnicity: Unsure. Most likely African American.
Relationships: With one other man, possibly his brother, and that man's wife. His wife was also present. Each couple had two children. It was likely he was traveling with his son and daughter, and his niece and nephew. 
Posessions: Not much to be gathered from the scene, though he did own a stroller that his children were using. 
Sexual History: He had two children that appeared to be biologically his. 

D. Character Sketch
Trent is a very impatient and angry character, who does not like to follow rules, listen to others, or be told what to do. He is very tall and very well built, and he uses his size to threaten others. When this doesn't work he is not afraid to offend people to get them to do what he wants. He does not set a very good example for his children, and sometimes his wife wonders why she married him in the first place. He thinks he is above everyone around him, and while that may be true in terms of physicality, it is obviously not when you compare his behavior to that of the people around him. This is not a person anyone would want to cross, but at the same time, is exactly the type of person that needs to learn how to respect others.

F. Character as Desire

• What makes your character laugh?
  While he may not be the best father, Trent does love his children, and on occasion, they do make him laugh.
• What is your character afraid of?
  He is afraid of being subordinate to others.
• What makes your character angry?
  Anything that does not go the way he wants it to will probably make Trent angry. Someone asking him to do something, no matter how small, will set him off, as will anyone not doing as he asks. 
• What specific incident is your character most ashamed of?
  He thinks he is always right in every situation, and therefore rarely feels shame. His parents wanted him to go to college, and he was slightly ashamed when he didn't get in to any of the schools he applied to, but then reminded himself that college was for nerds anyway, and he didn't need it. 
• What are your character's superstitions?
  He doesn't have any superstitions. He thinks superstitions are a stupid waste of time.

   Character as Image

• Characters are defined by the objects they wear, carry, and even throw away. Write about your character describing the contents of his/her garbage.
  Trent's garbage is full of cans of beer, paper towels, boxes of take out food, packaging from his kids' toys, and food that he and his family didn't eat before it went bad. He doesn't bother recycling because he simply doesn't care. He ends up buying his children stupid little toys at the grocery store just to shut them up, and half the time they don't even play with them. Often times his wife will buy food that they forget to eat, and they end up getting take out half the time anyway. 

   

   Character as Voice

• Write a paragraph in the voice of your character in the first person where he/she introduces him/herself. Have your character include the following information: Name, Age, Physical Appearance, Education, Vocation/Occupation, Ethnicity, Financial Status, Martial Status, Residency, Hobbies, Transportation, Sexual History, Religion
  Name's Trent. I'm 36 years old, black, and really tall, obviously. I finished high school but didn't bother with college, half the time these days you end up paying for a degree you don't need anyways, and I can't afford that shit. I work in construction. Doesn't pay all that well, but my wife kinda picks up the slack a little. She's a schoolteacher. I don't know if she's a very good one, but we get by. We're from Chicago. I hate it. There's never enough space to park my car. I hate my car, too, but my wife insisted I get a mini van to drive the stupid kids around. Yeah, I've got two kids. I didn't really care about having children, but my wife wanted 'em, and well, can't say no to some unprotected sex, since that's so hard to come by otherwise. 
• (note - I didn't think it was in character for Trent to mention Religion at all. I just think he doesn't care.)

   Character as Action, Thought, and Conflict

• "I've become a different person since we had the kids, Trent. I don't know what I'd do without them," his wife Mary said, beaming, as she made spaghetti for their dinner.
  "Oh yeah?" Trent asked, only half listening, watching TV.
  "Of course. Don't you feel the same way?" She never felt like Trent was interested in anything, and it broke her heart that he never seemed interested in their children. When they'd first met she felt like he would be such a good father, but it all went downhill from there. You never know everything about people right away, she supposed.
  "Hm? Oh, yeah, they're alright." Trent actually thought the kids were a nuisance, mostly. They cost a fortune, got in the way, broke his stuff, and took up his precious time that he could be doing other things with.
  "Just alright?" Mary asked, her heart sinking in her chest. She had to do what was best for her kids, but their daddy didn't seem to want to do anything but what was best for himself. 

G. Situation and sketch for potential story

     "FUCK! Goddamit!"
     "Trent? Trent, baby what's wrong?" Mary ran into the sitting room, but her husband didn't have to answer her. She knew immediately what was wrong. The corner lamp had been standing in its place earlier, but was now on the floor, smashed to pieces.

     "I went and turned the light on, and the goddamn lamp had to go and knock over!"

     Mary knew better than to go near him when he was this upset. She had no idea why practically every little thing seemed to make him so incredibly angry, but she had to do her best to ease the situation.

     "It's not a big deal, it wasn't expensive or anything, we can get a new-," she began, but Trent cut her off.

     "But can't you see it's broken?!? Now there's glass and this shit everywhere, and just...fuck that stupid lamp!"
     Mary could do nothing but turn away from him and go get a vacuum. She knew he wouldn't clean it up himself, especially since she also knew he believed the whole affair to be the lamp's fault. They'd been through this before. The lamp somehow fell over all on its own and caused this mess. He'd wonder why they ever bought such a stupid lamp in the first place. She brought the vacuum back to the sitting room and plugged it in, and knew her husband had started to yell again, but couldn't hear him over the loud hum and crunching sounds of the remains of the lamp being sucked away.