Tuesday, 17 November 2015

The secret HIstory - Character analysis

The novel contains many characters, but the story mainly revolves around the lives of six people.
I have chosen to delve deeper into the minds of each of these very different and interesting characters, to hopefully gain a better understanding of their personalities.

Richard Pepen. 
The narrator of the book. born in Plano California. Richard was very dissatisfied with his life there, with no friends, and a family that don't like him. He possessed a longing to escape his home of which he is ashamed, and seeks to fill his feeling of depressing loneliness. He has an obsession for fitting in and being liked.
Within the first page I was deeply engaged and intrigued. I find richards character quite difficult to 'read' and at other times all too relatable. He feels easy to connect with and sympathise, - an everyman. Richard is a boy who is full of lies and need for acceptance. 

Henry Winter.
"Henry is one of the most favourite characters within the book, he is also the most mysterious in my opinion.
 "He wears glasses and has dark hair, pale skin, and a beautiful mind. Henry is the intelligent person that is also VERY laid back. He interacts with other characters but also keeps to himself. Throughout the novel, I learned parts of his personality and saw little things that showed the person within, but I still felt like I was missing something key to his person. Henry is one of those people that you have to be around to learn their persona, but even so there were still times of doubt within the characters.
Henry comes off as very rude and cocky when he first meets a person. When Richard first met Henry, Henry did not acknowledge that he existed until Francis finally said something.
However rude Henry seems, he is also very truthful and loyal to his friends."



Francis Abernathy
"Francis is a Greek scholar who is very thin and has bright red hair. He has classy taste, because he is always dressed in fancy shirts or nice suits even when there is no occasion. It is later learned towards the middle of the book that he is gay, and he actually makes a move on Richard. Francis' grandfather does not accept his homosexuality, and makes him marry a woman. He is very respectable, yet also week. After Bunny's death, he begins having panic attacks and he becomes frail. After Henry's death, he is too depressed and overbore by it all and attempts to take his life by cutting his wrist. However, this attempt fails."


- Bunny Corcoran

"Bunny is very interesting. He's very cheery and easy going, and always cracking jokes. He is also similar to Richard in a way, because they both have the tendency to lie about things. Bunny also lied about the riches his family had, or once had, and often makes other people take care of him. Even though Bunny seems nice and hearty, there is an evil inside of him. He is VERY anti-homosexuality (situation with waiter, page 51). He is also conniving. After finding out that his friends killed a man, he holds them all under his will. He says things that he knows hits below the belt but he does it because he knows they won't do anything about it. When Bunny is around people are tense, but when he is gone they aren't. ("Everyone seemed unusually calm and at ease and I thought I knew why. It was because Bunny wasn't with us.")



Camilla and Charles Macaulay
"Camilla and Charles are twins, and they both tend to have the same characteristics. Tartt doesn't really go into their personalities as much, however. The pair have dark blond hair and looked and wore pale items. Their parents died when they were younger, so they were raised by a variety of family members. Camilla has confidence, but that is sometimes confused with her selfishness. She is the only girl in the bunch, and all of the men seem to gravitate to her at times. Charles is very spontaneous and out-there. He doesn't really care what people say, and he does the wildest things (Alcoholic, Stoner, Brings gun to kill Henry.)"



Quotes to describe the characters - extracts from novel;

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