Character Analysis Of Lonnie In Kneel To The Rising Sun

In Calwell’s “Kneel to the Rising Sun” a character named Lonnie is a sharecropper with a evil man named Arch Gunnard. Throughout the story Lonnie is scared to stand up to Arch, unlike the character Clem. Clem is a black man the lives in the same county as Lonnie and Arch. Clem is one of the few people able to stand up to Arch. Throughout the story the characteristics of bravery, evil, and cowardly are shown within the characters.

Arch Gunnard is a sharecropper, and is a very evil man. In the beginning of the story Lonnie was with his dog Nancy, she was a hound dog for hunting. Her tail was longer than most hound dog tail, and Arch thought it should be cut off. Arch said” his wagpole is way too long for a dog his size, especially when

After cutting off Nancy’s tail he said “I sometimes wish niggers had tails.” Arch is a sociopath that has no care or concern for anybody else but himself. He does not care if he hurts human, animals, or anything. He does whatever he wants to do and has no sense of remorse for anything he does. Arch does not give enough rations to his sharecroppers, and lets almost them starve to death. When Lonnie's father got killed Arch had no sympathy for his death. Arch told Lonnie “ Looks like you could have waited till morning in the first place. There wasn’t no sense in getting me up.” It was Arch’s hogs that killed Lonnie’s father Mark, but Arch did not

Clem stood up to Arch defending Mark’s death. Lonnie promised Clem that he would not tell Arch where Clem was hiding. Lonnie was supposed to tell Arch that Clem was by the swamp, but he was really hiding in the woods. Lonnie knew if Arch found Clem he was going to kill him, and he knew that Clem did not deserve to die. Arch’s mob came to his house with lots of weapons ready to kill Clem. When Arch asked Lonnie where Clem was hiding Lonnie at first tried to not answer, but he was intimidated my Arch and his mob. Lonnie told Arch that Clem was hiding in the woods. Lonnie was so terrified of Arch he would not even lie to him to save a mans life. When he told Arch where Clem was hiding it showed how cowardly Lonnie really is and how he was no spine.

In “Kneel to the Rising Sun” each character displayed different characteristics. Arch was an evil and manipulating man. He had no remorse for anything that he did, and only cared about himself. Clem was a brave and courageous man that stood up for what he believed was right. He died trying to help a Lonnie and standing up to Arch. Lonnie is a spineless and cowardly man that will never stand up to