Character Clues

Character Analysis

Actions

You can definitely get to know all the characters (and what great people they are) through their actions in Missing May. We get to see that Summer is responsible and caring because she stays home from school to keep an eye on Uncle Ob, and we get a glimpse into Cletus's compassion when he stops by on Christmas to make sure that Summer and Uncle Ob are still celebrating. And we get to see how super loving and generous Uncle Ob and Aunt May are when they decide to take Summer home to raise.

Direct Characterization

Summer's a straight shooter, so it makes sense that she just comes out and tells you what she thinks of people. When we are introduced to characters, Summer makes sure to describe them in full detail:

I loved Mr. Underwood from the minute I set eyes on him. He was a stooped-over little man with a long gray beard. A little elf. Even his cheeks were rosy. (8.20)

Summer comes right out and describes people as they are: warm and loving… or cold and unfriendly.

Props

There's one character who carries a prop with him wherever he goes, and oh boy does it tell us something about him:

There he was, coming in to the house with that crazy Cletus Underwood, who had fished his old suitcase from the bushes beside the Chevy and was holding it up against his chest. (3.14)

It may seem like a random and kind of hipster thing for a kid to do—carry around an old suitcase with black and white photographs in it—but the suitcase actually tells us that Cletus is longing to go places, even though he's stuck in this little old town. He wants to see the world and learn about everything—as he states, he wants to experience everything and become a real Renaissance man—and the suitcase is his way of hanging onto his dreams.

Sex and Love

This is definitely a sex-free book, but the love that Uncle Ob and Aunt May share definitely tells us about them. They're the kind of couple that absolutely adores each other, even though they've been together for decades and live in a tiny trailer:

I never saw two people love each other so much. Sometimes the tears would just come over me, looking at the two of them, even six years back when I first got here and was too young to be thinking about love. (1.2)

You'd think that those kinds of living conditions would drive most couples crazy, but Uncle Ob and Aunt May just love each other more and more. And they pass that kind of selfless love onto Summer as well. They're good loyal people, and they'll never abandon their little family.