Character Clues

Character Analysis

Location

There are two major regions in this book—Upland and Downland—and we are repeatedly told which region characters come from. On the one hand, this is informative insofar as these two regions have historically not gotten along particularly well, so by letting us know which side a character falls on, we get a sense of which side of this conflict they've lived on.

On the other hand, though, these regional identifications are riddled with stereotypes. If someone is an Uplander, he is assumed to be greedy, selfish, and rich—and if someone is a Downlander, then he is classified as hardworking, selfless, and poor. As is always the case, though, these stereotypes don't hold up. While we've got more to say on this in the "Themes" section, for right now we'd like to point out that location is both a tool for characterization and a trick—it sets us up to buy into stereotypes that crumble once we get to know our characters.

Actions

Our moms always told us that actions speak louder than words, and boy is that true in The Returning. In fact, how people act makes Cam question everything he knows about Uplanders, Downlanders, and his whole life—actions, in other words, are key to undoing the stereotypes that location sets up in this book.

For instance, Cam's always been told Uplanders are deceitful and greedy, but when he comes face-to-face with one (Gyaar) on the battlefield, Gyaar saves his life—a decidedly un-greedy and upstanding decision. With location doing its darndest to lump everyone into rigid categories, thank goodness that actions are here to clue us into the truth about characters.