Shorty

Character Analysis

Our main guy is just fifteen when he tells us his story, and even younger than that in many parts of the book (he's pretty fond of flashbacks). Right away, we can tell that Shorty has had a tough life. It's not just that he's stuck under a pile of rubble during an earthquake (although let's face it, that would stink), but also that he's been shot at and killed people already at such a young age.

Kill or Be killed

When he opens the book, Shorty tells us:

I am a killer and I have been killed, too, over and over; I am constantly being born. I have lost more things than I have found; I have destroyed more things than I have built. I have seen babies abandoned in the trash and I have seen the dead come back to life. (1.3)

We're not sure whether he's been a little melodramatic at first, but pretty soon, we find out this is literal. He's already killed people as a gangster. Alarm bells might be going off in our heads when we read this, but we're also asked to think about how tough Shorty's life has been. It isn't every kid who finds themselves in such a position, after all.

Then there's the fact that Shorty says he's been killed, too. Now we know he's still alive, so what gives? This part is figurative. Shorty's spirit has died a bunch of times while living in the Site, and he no longer hopes for the future or wishes things would change (like Marguerite did). Instead, he sees things like they are. And they aren't that great. To him, it's like he's died and become this cynical, dark, and murderous person.

And while Shorty's killed people, he's also had family members gunned down right in front of him as a child. The book asks us to think about whether there was any alternative for Shorty. In the Site, it seems like everybody grows up to be a gangster.

One of His Nine Lives

Just because he's in Route 9 (a gang) doesn't mean Shorty is safe. In fact, he's hunted down more than once. He tells us about a time he almost got killed:

[…] my shadow behind me was pinned to the wall by these bullets; it had been killed and good. It was weird, looking at my own shadow all full of holes. I wondered, if your shadow gets shot, is that bad luck? Is it like dying in a dream? (15.62)

He's not sure whether he's dead or alive because the bullets came so close to him. It's moments like this that we see how resilient and strong Shorty is. Sure, he's scared out of his mind—but he picks himself up and keeps moving. It's not that he's invincible like some of Route 9 seems to think; it's just that he keeps picking himself back up and trying again. That's how he stays alive.

Let Freedom Ring

Before Shorty is rescued, as he becomes more certain than ever that he'll die under the rubble, he gets all philosophical on us. Check it out:

We have a mouth—we can feel it in our face, an opening into us that can let the spirit out—but when we use it, when we speak, there is no one to listen. The voices that come to us, drifting through the darkness beyond our prison, they might as well be the voices of the dead. (23.4)

We think this paints a really clear picture of what life is like for Shorty from the inside. We might describe him as a callous gang member who sells drugs and murders people, but for him, his life is more about the lack of choices. He's never had a voice to speak up or an audience to hear him. He's been in survival mode instead.

It's easy for us to judge Shorty, but In Darkness asks us some tough questions about what else the guy could have done in the situation he's born into. He wants to be in the light, but ultimately, the Site is in the darkness. Sounds like a tough situation to us.