Character Clues

Character Analysis

Actions

One of the primary ways Oppel chooses to tell us about his characters is the action that they perform. For example, from the very beginning of the book we know that Matt is a brave, hard-working, people-pleaser based on his rescue of Benjamin Malloy. Matt's just the cabin boy—his job is to cater to the passengers' every whim and to serve them during meals—but when the captain suggests that maybe Matt could risk his life by swinging out over thin air to jump into the damaged balloon Matt doesn't even hesitate:

"Mr. Cruse, I look at you, and of all the men, you're the one who shows not the slightest hint of fear. Am I right?"

"Yes, sir. I have no fear of heights." […] I was glowing with pride and hoped the others wouldn't see the flush of my cheeks. The captain came and checked my harness himself, his strong hands testing the straps and buckles. (1.86-87)

This shows us that not only does the captain know Matt would jump to any task at hand, but that Matt would do just about anything in order to please the captain.

Oppel also uses action to help us begin to understand that Kate is a stubborn, never-take-no-for-an-answer young woman. When she is desperate to take another journey into the forest to seek out the cloud cat's nest, she goes so far as to drug her chaperone in order to escape her stateroom:

"Drugged! Honestly! You make it sound so extreme! All I did was give her a dose of her own sleeping elixir. Four drops in her water glass before bedtime. Maybe it was eight—I can't remember. No more than eight. What choice did I have? You weren't about to help me. How else was I supposed to get out? She kept the keys clutched in her fist in a death grip. I knew I'd have no chance of wiggling them out unless she was in a good deep sleep." (14.156)

Yup—Kate is definitely someone who takes matters into her own hands and keeps her eyes on the prize… no matter what.

Clothing

There is a pretty rigid class hierarchy in the world that Oppel has created, and one of the ways he delineates who belongs to which class is by what they wear.

Kate, who belongs to the upper-crust tier of society, has several outfits she wears throughout the day, each with a specific purpose:

Upstairs, the first-class lounge was filling up as most of the passengers finished off their dinner. All the gentlemen were in black jackets and wing-tip collars and bow ties, and the ladies in long evening dresses and jewels. […] Kate was like a different person altogether in her silk gown. She wore her hair up this evening, and around her throat was a simple sparkling necklace. (4.70)

On the other hand though, Kate is not a conformist. After her initial jaunt into the forest with Matt, where she was continuously having to hold up her long skirt in order to run, she picks a much more efficient (if unusual) outfit for her quest to find the cat's nest:

She was wearing a pair of outlandish, emerald-green harem pants with sequined cuffs and a reddish-brown tunic. I could see that it was good tree-climbing gear, snug at the ankles, with no long skirt to tangle her up. And the colors couldn't have blended in better. A real thinker, my Kate. (14.128)

Can you identify examples of how the class status of other characters is demonstrated through their clothing?

Thoughts and Opinions

Can you think of an easier way for an author to show what motivates a character, other than putting it into words and making the character think it? Yeah, us either. It's a super straightforward way to establish who a character is and their thoughts and opinions cut right to the chase.

In our story Kate is one of the more opinionated characters, and she gets developed for us as readers by expressing her values. We know almost right away that she hates the restrictions placed on her by society because of her gender, and that she doesn't intend to change just to please everyone else:

"[my parents] certainly don't want me to study at university. All they want me to do is dress and behave appropriately and not embarrass them. My interests seem to embarrass them. And my talking. I'm always being told I'm saying the wrong thing, or at the wrong time, or too boldly. 'Kate, you are too bold,' my mother always says." (11.100)

The derision in her tone makes it more than clear that she thinks her parents are pretty shallow and thoughtless. What else does it clue us into about her?