When you read a description of a character, some things about the person are spelled out right there on the page. You don’t have to guess at these traits because the author tells you, directly, what they are. Here’s an example of that approach from the video you just watched.
There never was anyone so wise and knowing as old Iagoo. There never was a person who saw and heard so much.
Question
What does the author say directly about Iagoo?
Some of Iagoo’s traits are revealed in less obvious ways. To understand these traits, you have to make inferences―educated guesses―based on specific details in the text. If readers have to infer information about a character, that information is implied rather than stated. Implied means suggested rather than said directly.
Study these two examples to review how implied details work.
This paragraph does not actually say how Iagoo became so wise and knowing. However, it does provide some details that imply this information. Read the paragraph, and see if you can figure out the source of Iagoo’s knowledge.
There never was anyone so wise and knowing as old Iagoo. There never was a person who saw and heard so much. Iagoo knew the secrets of the woods and fields, and he understood the language of birds and beasts. All his life long he had lived out of doors, wandering far in the forest where the wild deer hide, or skimming the waters of the lake in his birch-bark canoe.
Question
What does the paragraph imply about Iagoo? (How did he get so wise?)
The last paragraph in the video script hints at some of the stories that Iagoo tells the children in his village.
But most of all, Iagoo won the children's hearts with his stories. Where did the robin get his red breast? How did fire find its way into wood, so that a person can get it out again by rubbing two sticks together? Why was Coyote, the prairie wolf, so much cleverer than the other animals; and why was he always looking behind him when he ran? It was old Iagoo who could tell you where and why.
Question
After reading the examples in this paragraph, what can you infer about the kinds of stories Iagoo tells?
Question
What background knowledge did you need to figure out what kinds of stories Iagoo tells?
