How can I easily identify the features of a character within a text?

One way in which you can identify a character within a text, is through their use of dialogue. For example, a character such as Oliver Twist in Dickensian literature might have incredibly informal dialogue and basic grammar usage owing to the fact that he is an uneducated orphan, who was born in the workhouse. 

Another way in which you can identify the features of a character is in their clothing. You could consider how it is described, is it in keeping with the fashion of the time? Is it clothing of the wealthy or of the poor? 

Similarly, you can also consider their status in comparison to the other characters, i.e whether they have or lack wealth, have higher or lower status than other characters within the text, the kind of setting they are placed in. 

Usually characters will be described as and when they are introduced, alongside any changes that occur to them as the plot changes.