CHARACTER STUDY

Book: “The Twits” by Roald Dahl

1 sentence summary:

A hideous, vindictive, spiteful couple known as the Twits live together in a brick house without windows with their abused, mistreated family of pet monkeys, known as the the Muggle-Wumps, and they continuously play practical jokes on each other out of hatred for one another, till one day the monkeys decided to play alliance with a Roly-poly bird to escape the grasp of the twits.

Character bio:

Mr. Twit

- Horrible person, having hair that covers his entire face, with the exception of his forehead, eyes and nose.

- His hair, which he falsely believes makes him appear "wise and grand”, is spiky and hard.

- Because he never washes it, his beard holds scraps of food dropped there while he ate, including tinned sardines, Stilton cheese, and corn flakes

- Occasionally, he licks these scraps out and eats them.

Instead of wiping his mouth with a cloth, Mr. Twit simply wipes it on his sleeve.

- Mr. Twit is a beer drinker - even drinking at breakfast.

- He is known to seem very quiet when he is plotting evil tricks, the victim of which is usually his equally unpleasant wife

We can easily identify Mr. or Mrs. Twit as the key character because the author, successful manages to picture out how both the Twits look like, how they behave and how the story revolves around them. These characters are crucial in the story because they are characters that also help to bring out both their own characteristics and other supporting character’s characteristics. I would say that the author is successful in using these characters to tell his story. The idea of The Twits was triggered by Dahl's desire to "do something against beards", because he had an acute dislike of them. The first sentence of the story — "what a lot of hairy-faced men one sees nowadays" — is a genuine complaint. However, it seems it was written with the view that children enjoy being disgusted — and frightened. Whatever the truth in this theory, it has remained popular amongst children and due to its shortness is occasionally seen as a good "starting point" by British parents — and primary school and teachers — when introducing children to Roald Dahl's stories for younger readers.

The Little Prince

1 sentence summary:

A man’s plane crashes into the Sahara dessert, and meets the little prince, who introduces home asteroids, and explores the others, but only receives disappointments and takes his own life.

Character bio:

- Frequently perplexed by the behavior of grown-ups,

- The prince symbolizes the hope, love, innocence, and insight of childhood that lie dormant in all of us.

- Though the prince is sociable and meets a number of characters as he travels, he never stops loving and missing the rose on his home planet.

I can easily identify the little prince as the key character because of how the story and the other characters always revolve around him. These characters are crucial in the story because they are characters that also help to bring out both their own characteristics and other supporting character’s characteristics. I think the author successfully managed to bring out the characteristics of the little prince by having supporting characters to help bring out his characteristics of the prince such as hope, love, innocence, and insight of childhood that lie dormant in all of us. The title character of The Little Prince is a pure and innocent traveler from outer space whom the narrator encounters in the Sahara desert. Before the little prince lands on Earth, Saint-Exupéry contrasts the prince’s childlike character with different adult characters by having the prince hop from one neighboring planet to another. On each planet, the prince meets a different type of adult and reveals that character’s frivolities and weaknesses. Once on Earth, however, the little prince becomes a student as well as a teacher. From his friend the fox, the little prince learns what love entails, and in turn he passes on those lessons to the narrator.

The little prince has few of the glaring flaws evident in the other characters, and he is immediately shown to be a character of high caliber by his ability to recognize the narrator’s Drawing Number One as a picture of a boa constrictor that has eaten a snake. Nevertheless, the prince’s fear as he prepares to be sent back to his planet by a snakebite shows that he is susceptible to the same emotions as the rest of us. Most notably, the prince is bound by his love for the rose he has left on his home planet. His constant questioning also indicates that one’s search for answers can be more important than the answers themselves.