Use quotations and examples of direct and indirect characterization of one character in The Lovely Bones.

Just for
fun, I chose Susie's mother (Abigail) to answer your question.  Although almost every character
in Sebold's is characterized both directly and indirectly, I feel as
though Sebold purposefully peppered Abigail'sin short spurts:  oneand then one .

Let's use Abigail's psychological issues in dealing with Susie's death as a focus of
characterization here.  Abigail is not dealing with her daughter's death well at all.  Abigail
continues to draw away from reality (so much so that she feels trapped and in need of whatever
escape possible).  Early on, this is show in an adept use of indirect
characterization:

"Momma?" Buckley repeated. 
His voice was sleepy.

"Mommmmma-maaa!"

She
despised the word. (62)

Here we are given insight into
Abigail's character indirectly, specifically through her thoughts.  What is revealed about
Abigail's character here?  That she is beginning to withdraw from the two people who need her
the most:  her two remaining children.

Further in the novel, Abigail is
showing even more signs of psychological distress.  Here, again, is some indirect
characterization for you:

"I want to be more than a
mother."

Lindsey thought she could understand this.  She wanted to be
more than a girl. (207)

Again, we are given insight into
Abigail's character indirectly, this time through her words.  What is revealed about Abigail's
character here?  That she is now voicing to her children the fact that she needs to escape from
the mothering role.

It is Lindsey's reaction to this conversation that gives
a good example of direct characterization:

"Is Mommy
sick?" Buckey asked.

Lindsey didn't want to lie to him, but she also
felt it was an accurate description of what she knew.

"Yes."
(208)

Here we are given insight into Abigail's character
directly, specifically through Lindsey's statement about Abigail being "sick."  What
is revealed about Abigail's character here?  That even her daughter (Lindsey) realizes that
there is something severely wrong with Abigail, so much so that she is described as being
psychologically "sick."

An easy way to remember indirect and direct
characterization is the simple idea of "show and tell."  Indirect characterization
SHOWS an aspect of a character's personality while direct characterization TELLS an aspect of a
character's personality.  This works quite well, even in the examples
above.