Character Clues

Character Analysis

Outfits

Jack has a fascination with uniforms, and wearing specific outfits helps him nail down his attempts to transform himself. Early on, "the camouflage coat made me feel like a sniper, and before long I began to act like one." (3.6) Then later, when he needs to get into the prep school state of mind, he sees the boy he wants to be in the mirror with "something of the stage cavalier" (29.42) in his look. For him, the outfit makes the identity, and we see him trying to figure out who he is by what he wears.

Ironically, Dwight's the same way. The neater and more well-dressed he is, the more the awfulness creeps into the edges. "He dressed like no one I'd ever seen before" (7.22), but at the same time "His clothes were wrong." (7.23) He's trying too hard, he's covering up too much. Jack sees that with outfits that don't match the man, letting him spot Dwight's con game despite being unable to do anything about it.

Mannerisms

Wolff observes a lot about people's movements—good writers notice a lot—and how they reflect their personality. Dwight has "an abrupt, surprising way of springing to his feet," (7.22) which foreshadows all the wonderful surprises he pops on Jack later. Similarly, Jack's mom gets much bouncier when she starts a new adventure:

Her color was high, her movements quick and sure, everything about her flushed with gaiety. (4.12)

This fits with the first-person narration, since Jack can spot how they move and infer—but not state for certain—how they feel because of it. Nice way to stick to the format, Toby!

Speech

Characters in the book can be defined by what they don't say as much as what they say. Sister James, for instance, just says "practice is over" (2.12) to fill Jack with guilt about shooting arrows at other boys. She's pretty strong from a moral standpoint, so she doesn't need to say much. Dwight, in contrast, can't stop talking, pointing out everything Jack does wrong like a record stuck on "berate." "The trouble with me was…" (11.1) Jack repeats that line over and over throughout the paragraph… suggesting that Dwight has a bad case of over-explaining on his mind. Pretty slick way to show us what a jerk he is, and more importantly, how his jerkiness is a constant thing instead of an "only during Jack's weekly beatings" thing.