Characters in fiction can be conveniently classified as major and minor, static and dynamic. A
major character is an important figure at the center of the story’s action or theme. The major
character is sometimes called a protagonist whose conflict with an antagonist may spark the
story’s conflict. Supporting the major character are one or more secondary or minor characters
whose function is partly to illuminate the major characters. Minor characters are often static or
unchanging: they remain the same from the beginning of a work to the end. Dynamic
characters, on the other hand, exhibit some kind of change – of attitude, purpose, behavior, as the
story progresses.