Analysing Book Characters

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I hate English class and always seem to have difficulty with this.
Whenever we have to analyse characters and figure out their personality and what they're thinking/feeling. Teachers are always getting mad at me and It's all really hard.
I'm 15 just so you know and I want to know if anyone else has the same problem, is it a common trait among other Aspergers people or is it just me?

I don't know whether its a common trait or not. But whenever I have had to do things like that, my success or failure was closely linked with whether I was interested in it or not. If I did not like the book, or any of the characters, my mind simply would not work on it. But if I enjoyed the characters and found them interesting, I did well.
Perhaps you could request picking a character to analyse? They would probably say no, but its worth a shot....

It is a common trait in Asperger's Syndrome to have difficulty figuring out what peoples emotions are. Do your teachers know about your AS? Maybe you could tell them and they might go a little bit easier on you and help you with this sort of work. Also you could ask your parents if they could help you work on figuring out peoples emotions and what not (if you get on with your parents that is.)

Personally I don't really have this problem and can't remember ever having it to be honest so I can't really give you any personal tips so sorry about that.

I hope I've helped you anyway.

It will be a useful life skill. My analysis of Hamlet`s friends was totally opposite of everyone else in class ... didn't get politics at the time.

I think it's more common among guys. My Dad - who is not autistic, but has elements of it - has this problem with literary figures, I'm diagnosed autistic and I basically choose to study this stuff, but I'm a girl. I am probably generalising, but I suspect it has something to do with chromosomes as well as with AS.

However, if you haven't talked to your teachers about your AS, you need to. They ought to be providing you with some kind of support, but talk to your parents about it first and get their advice too. Maybe at a parents' meeting or whatever they're called in your locality?

It might help to look at the characters and see whether you can imagine your own feelings in terms of what that character is doing. If someone in the character's family has died, maybe you can think what you would feel if someone died (or if, hopefully not but if someone you were close to has died, how you felt when that happened.) It's a bit clunky that way, but it might help you to get something that will take the pressure off with teachers.

Analysing characters is also subjective. Everyone reads things differently based on their own experiences and understanding, so it's fine if you aren't coming up with the exact same things as the rest of the class.

Also, it might help if you practiced analysing characters in other things. In a computer game. In a television show. In a book you're reading for fun, or comic, or whatever you like doing outside of school. I read a lot when I was younger, and wrote a lot of my own stories, and by doing that I came to understand a lot of things about character. I'm not suggesting you do this - at 15 you almost certainly have a LOT of other academic claims on your time and it would just add to the pressure, but it might help if when you watch a tv show you like, you try looking at different characters and asking yourself why you think they do things that they do.

It is hard and don't be discouraged. Definitely ask your parents for help and speak to your teacher



That is what makes a proper academic. Being able to see things that other people can't