Character Clues

Character Analysis

Family Life

Well, this one's kind of a no-brainer, since Azalea and her sisters are pretty much defined in relation to each other. We see what kind of person Azalea is through how she treats her sisters. For instance, the day they find out their mom has died, here's what Azalea does:

Azalea helped Delphinium up from the floor, and lifted five-year old Ivy to the table, spooning her a bit of extra porridge from the pot. Ivy had an insatiable appetite. Azalea gently wiped faces and soothed their cries. "Hush," said Azalea. "It's only for a year. I'll watch out for you all. I promise." (4.34-35)

See how kind and caring Azalea is here? Because she's so good to her sisters, we get the impression that she's a good person in general.

Actions

While not all of the princesses act like proper, polite princesses all the time, how they act can give us clues about who they are. Bramble, for example, is fond of throwing things at people when they've displeased her (oranges at Azalea when she runs out on them after getting news of their mom's death, and potatoes at Mr. Bradford when he stops the clock tower). We get from this that Bramble doesn't care about social norms, is kinda hot-tempered, and prefers to express her feelings.

Clothing

How do we know that Keeper is such a smooth operator? Partly by how he's dressed: "A gentleman stood there, by the table. He was dressed all in black. Not boring black, but dashing black. One so smooth that stars would have gotten lost in it" (7.76). Even the color black becomes alluring on this dude—but it's still black, so let's not go thinking he's a good guy for too long.

Direct Characterization

Simple but effective, we see direct characterization tell us who some of the folks in Entwined truly are. For instance, Azalea thinks about her father, before he goes all distant after his wife's death: "He would know what to do. He was the most steady gentleman Azalea knew" (3.58). He's still steady even after ignoring his daughters—he's just not steady in supporting them the way they need. He's busy running the country and managing his own grief, but eventually he comes around and manages to be there for his family.