Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 19، number In Volume 8، November 2026 ، issue Number 126

From Flat to Round Character: Analysis of Characterization in the Representation of War in Mohammad Rezaei-Rad's Novel "The Hole"

Mohammad Reza Alimohammadzadeh , Parvaneh Adelzade (Author in Charge), Kamran Pashaei Fakhri

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In recent decades, Iranian war literature has moved away from purely epic and chronicle-like narratives toward representing the human, psychological, and existential consequences of war. Within this approach, characters are not merely agents who drive events forward; rather, they function as focal points for embodying anxiety, fragmented identity, and the effects of trauma. This study examines the role of character and characterization strategies in representing war and psychological injury in Hofreh)The Hole( by Mohammad Rezaei-Rad. Employing two narrative lines—wartime and postwar—and drawing on the mechanisms of crime fiction, the novel provides a framework for exploring stylistic, historical, and psychological layers of the war experience.

METHODOLOGY: This research is conducted through an analytical–descriptive approach and is based on scene-centered and character-centered analysis. The data include all major and minor characters in the novel; through descriptive and conceptual coding, dominant patterns of characterization and their narrative functions are extracted and categorized.

FINDINGS: The findings indicate that Hofreh, through a non-linear narrative structure and a focus on characters’ subjectivity, relies on indirect characterization techniques, including interior monologue, fragmented speech, meaningful repetitions, and linking external situations to inner turmoil. Moreover, instead of directly describing traits, the narrative “shows” character through actions, speech, thoughts, and the character’s relationship with the surrounding environment, thereby involving the reader in meaning-making.

CONCLUSION: By distancing itself from common clichés and avoiding the narrator’s definitive judgments, these strategies broaden interpretive possibilities and construct a multilayered image of war and its aftermath. As a result, the characters take on a more tangible and realistic form, and the text represents traumatic experience not as a report but as a fractured and problematized mode of living.

Keyword
Characterization , War Literature , "Hofreh" Novel , Mohammad Rezaei-Rad.