Wolf Hollow Character Analysis

Annabelle McBride, the main protagonist in Lauren Wolk’s Wolf Hollow, is forced to grow up in several harsh situations. In the novel, Annabelle witnesses unjust deaths and is forced to act alone when she is fighting to prove the innocence of Toby Jordan. He is a reclusive war hero, who some think is a mad man. He is being convicted for pushing Betty Glengarry, the antagonist of the novel, into a well. When Annabelle goes to Toby’s smokehouse in an effort to find him, when she blames herself for Betty’s death, and when Annabelle’s brother Henry gives Annabelle time to process in a hard time -- they are forced to grow up before they are ready.

Towards the middle of the novel, Annabelle must grow up when she goes to Toby’s smokehouse looking for him because she doesn’t want to accept that he would kidnap or kill Betty. When Annabelle leaves her house to go find toby, she states, “Anyone who’s ever gone from warm and bright to cold and dark knows how I felt. To my back, all safe things… I had been out in the night before, many times, but never alone, not past the end of our lane… and I really wasn’t completely alone. With me, out here in the dark, were men searching for Betty” (130-131). Annabelle must grow up in this situation because she outside in the dark by herself

At the beginning of Wolf Hollow, Annabelle hates Betty because she is a bully and a jerk. She is afraid of Betty and gives into her bullying, but by the end of the novel she feels empathy for her. She matures because at Betty’s funeral, after every act of malice that Betty had committed, Annabelle grows up because she forgives her. She also learns that she can confide in people and ask for help instead of keeping all of her problems to herself. Henry also grows up through the novel because at the beginning, he acts like a child and plays with James during all the difficult times, but at the end he begins to take part in