In both poems, the poets turn an inanimate force into a humanlike character. The personified characters in each poem play a contrasting but friendly role. ... The personified characters used by both poets help the reader to relate to the narrator's story. Because the wind and death have been so humanized the reader can easily relate to them as characters. Death is a trusted stranger, while the wind is a distracting friend. ...

• Word Count: 640
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

A very distinctive character found in this novel is Vardaman, mainly because he represents the innocence that the other characters lack. ... Vardaman logically blames Peabody for his mother's death because he was the only stranger that entered the house until that moment. ... These characteristics, combined with his logical reactions, help to create a unique character in the novel that adds to the complexity of the Bundren family and it gives the novel a source of sarcasm and comic relief. ...

• Word Count: 564
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

First of all from my understanding she is amongst strangers, from what I understand she was not aware of the fact that her son was gay and had a boyfriend (or that he had AIDS) and therefore never met Page 1 Cal or his family, she may be feeling vulnerable and perhaps shy. ... It also seems that Andre's mother's silence allows the other character's to freely express themselves, though it does seem strange to me that she had nothing to say through-out or after Cal's speech towards the end of the play. ...

• Word Count: 443
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

The main character and drowned man, Esteban, moves the townspeople to a more gladdened atmosphere. ... The women "with compassion," prepare Esteban's body, a complete stranger, for burial at sea. ... Heroes establish the quality of character people desire. In "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World," Marquez places an untraditional twist on the hero character, Esteban. Marquez's unconventional writing techniques shows as he writes the hero as a lifeless character. ...

• Word Count: 732
• Approx Pages: 3

There are ten main characters in this story, some more protaganistic then others, but all play a role in the story. ... The point of view in this novel is constantly changing from one of the characters to another. There is no single character point of view. The narrator of the story is omnipotent, being able to read characters thoughts, hallucinations, and dreams. The book begins when the ten strangers arrive on Indian Island for various reasons, some believing that there seeing old friends, others because they think they have gotten a job on the island. ...

• Word Count: 1431
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

The story is told by the alternating thoughts of the three main characters, and we accompany them while they rediscover what they know about death, while gradually strengthening their relationship to the other characters. ... Although the characters' relationships to their lost ones are of equal significance, their various levels of understanding dramatically alters their perspectives on their losses. ... Millie shares her understanding of abstract concepts with Karl, as well as many strangers/friends she meets along the way. ... Davis' narrative shifts between the three characters, ...

• Word Count: 924
• Approx Pages: 4

She personifies the character of death and then dramatizes the experience: Death is portrayed as a genteel friend who "kindly" stops to take to her grave." ... Death "kindly" comes to get her, knowing that she keeps herself busy. 2 Lines 3-4- The third passenger in the coach is a silent, mysterious stranger. ...

• Word Count: 763
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The was another lady who coloured her hair a bright orange, which strangers often mistook at a distance for a feather hat. ... There was also Andy Gump, a town character, a deranged old man who lived in a shack in the valley, who the kids used to torment and were afraid of; "to us he seemed a wild Methuselah figure, shambling among the underbrush and the tall couchgrass, muttering indecipherable curses or blessings, a prophet who had forgotten his prophecies" (Laurence, 57). ...

• Word Count: 1153
• Approx Pages: 5