Character Clues

Character Analysis

Direct Characterization

Direct characterization is found in The Knife of Never Letting Go in heavy doses. This might be because our hero, Todd, is a very black-and-white guy, who calls 'em like he sees 'em. Let's look at an example to see what we mean, though.

Ben and Cillian are compared in a very black-and-white way. Todd says: "It's never been so good with Cillian, not never, Ben's always been the kind one, Cillian's always been the other one" (3.15). One is good because the other is bad, and vice versa—Todd leaves no room for confusion. Cillian is rough and nagging and his Noise sounds "buzzy like mad bees" (3.1), while Ben is peaceful and nurturing and his Noise is "all smooth and nongrasping it's like laying in a brook on a hot day" (3.53). Todd comes right out and tells us what's up with these two.

Social Status

In Prentisstown, it's all about becoming a man. And since Todd's the last resident to still be a kid, he's super tuned into what being a man gets you in terms of social status. And since there's only one kid near his age in Prentisstown, there's one major example of this.

Todd has a peer-nemesis relationship to the mayor's son, Davy Prentiss Jr. He resents him because even though they're pretty much the same age, Prentiss Jr. has come of age. Todd describes this difference bitterly: "he ain't barely two years older than me, barely able to even get a sentence out without his voice breaking, but he's had his birthday to be a man so there he is, our sheriff" (4.72). Prentiss Jr. might still be a kid by our standards—he's no more than 15—but in this town, he's the freaking sheriff. So yeah, social status clues us into who has power and who doesn't in this book.