Wednesday Wars By Gary D. Schmidt: Character Analysis

John was an only person building an invisible barrier between him and his boy. He chose to be irresponsible and distant from his son, which engendered "their distance one from the other was greater than ever"(page 3). Secondly, he prioritized alcohol, which could strongly control his life and made him become irresponsible. For instance, "on the evening of the banquet, he was a little late getting home, having stopped in for a few drinks with a customer"(page 3). Another evidence is the detail when John poured a drink right after his wife asked him to go to the banquet.

Frost shows an idiom when it says, “He must gaven his hand,"shows the reader that it doesn 't mean it at this point of his life but it means he 's so worn out that he can just give his hand away for good from so much pain. In line 31, it says "No more to build on," refers to him not being able to work anymore and that he 's just worked so hard he just can 't anymore. " Big Boy," in line 21, shows the reader that the boy isn 't really a big boy but he 's doing a mans job gives it off as if he is.

When Willy met Dave Singleman, Willy reconsidered his decision of going to Alaska and chose to be a salesman. Dave was “eighty-four years old, and he’d drummed merchandise in thirty-one states”(81). It seems as though Willy viewed him as a father, so he followed his same path hoping to have the same future and success. The Loman family was befuddled by the process of Willy’s fraudulent acts. Biff started arguing with his dad in front of the family and said they “never told the truth for ten minutes in this house!”(131), but that was Willy’s fault because he lied to please them.

Groupthink is a common thought that is presented to the readers of Miller's book, which in turn, makes the book a threatening book for our impressionable younger generation. Willy Loman throughout the book “Death of a Salesman” strives to become financially independent not only for his family success but future generations successes, through his materialistic, and capitalistic views. The nuclear family shown Miller's book, Willy who is regarded as the breadwinner, Linda is the caretaker who cares for their two children Biff and Happy. Since Willy is the only financial provider for the family, day in and day out he carries a heavy burden of shame with himself. Additionally, Willy carries with himself guilt and regret.

Kowalski is known for being a ‘retired old man’, isolating himself from family and friends. He takes it upon himself and his petulant nature to scare off a gang persistently bullying his young neighbour Thao. Thao’s family is from a very religious and strict culture, where Thao’s personality seems to clash. Walt Kowalski chooses to take him on-board and find him a stable job to support his family. Thao and Walt begin to form a strong bond over the last few weeks of Kowalski’s life.

Entering the lonely town of Soledad, which literally translates to 'solitude', George and Lennie have a mutual dream and a friendship which immediately sets them apart from the other characters. For instance, when George and Lennie confront Curley's father for him to let them work, he asks, "I said what stake you got in this guy? You taking his pay away from him" (Steinbeck 22)? With this question in the air, it's easy for the reader to assume that Curley's father cannot even fathom any reason as to why two men would stay together in those times other than for one to take advantage of the other. This relationship between George and Lennie is also compared to that of Cain and Abel's, "Cain's question is the question again at the heart of the novel: "Am I my brother's keeper"" (Owens 146)?

“The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead” (33). In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses foil characters to elucidate Willy’s flaws that ultimately prevent him and his family from succeeding. The contrast between Charley and Willy and Bernard and Biff serves to highlight how Willy’s obsession with achieving his version of the American Dream impacts both his life and his children’s. His poor values are passed on to his children producing even more failures. ¬¬¬¬Both Charley and Willy work as salesmen, however Charley represents what Willy desired to become – successful.

In the iconic film Glengarry Glen Ross, screenwriter David Mamet portrays a controversial and yet satirical message of survival through competition and dishonesty. The competitiveness of the masculine world calls for such methods, as is illustrated throughout the film. Through his message, he provides a nineties cult classic representing the crisis of manhood and its definition. We follow four highly stressed and over-pressured real estate salesman who are forced to turn on each other for survival in a capitalist system. When their corporate office announces that within a week, the company will downsize the sales department down to only two surviving salesman.

Positive change can improve one’s attitude. In the story “Metamorphosis” Gregor devotes his life to a job that he hates. Since the beginning of his career, he was in “contact with different people all the time.” He states that, “you can never get to know anyone or become friendly.” The career Gregor pursued never allowed him to make “friends.”

Guy’s inability to provide for his family makes him unhappy. Throughout the story we focus on Guy’s actions and his disappointment of unemployment. When Guy mentions to his wife Lili the thought of putting their son Little Guy for the hiring list so once he becomes a man he’ll have a job. As readers  notice the importance of Guy’s actions, we see here the right decisions Guy is trying to make. He’s doing everything possible so his son won’t end up unhappy and unemployed like his father.

Some of the traits that helped Uncle Jed to reach his goal of opening his barber shop was perseverance and determination. Uncle Jed was very perseverant because in the story when it states “Mr. Ernest Walters, a friend of Uncle Jeds. He had come to tell Uncle Jed about the bank failing” then uncle Jed just stood there a long time before he said anything and said he would just have to start all over. When Uncle Jed stayed on track and said that he would just have to start all over that helped him a whole bunch because if he just quit then he never would have gotten his barbershop. The reason i think Uncle Jed was determined because in the story when it states “Uncle Jed kept going around to his customers cutting their hair, even though they couldn 't pay him”.

Imagine having a perfect life without trouble and then all of the sudden your whole life shatters in one freak accident. This is how Henry Smith felt in the book Trouble. Henry’s father always said “If you build your house far away from trouble, trouble will never find you.” Everything was working in his life he went to a great school, had some good friends, had a good relationship with his family, and had a nice house. That was until one night when Henry’s older brother Franklin got hit by a car on his usual 5 mile run.

Dally A rock-hard hood who never backs down from any challenge. Dally is a character in the book “Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton. The Outsiders is a book where a ragtag group of greasers band together and overcome victories, tragedies, and above all, build an even stronger bond of brotherhood. This story begins in the town of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Ponyboy(our main character) is walking home from the movies and gets ambushed by a large group of Socs(Sociables-the “popular/rich” clique).

The author James Patterson uses the antagonist to help the story develop and to create character development by robbing people, living in the black market and using people for their fame. This is significant because the antagonist drives events which create the plot and the story. During the story, there is a mysterious guy named Louise. He seems mysterious and tries using the kids for their money, even though he knows he could get in big trouble.