Character Clues

Character Analysis

Actions

People may talk a lot about what kind of people they are and what they're going to do, but it's really their actions that set them apart—in What I Saw and How I Lied, the characters' actions are very telling of their inner selves and true motives.

Even though Joe always seems like such a nice, law-abiding guy, he's really stolen some money and will do anything to keep it—even maybe commit murder. And Evie's mom may tell everyone that she would never cheat on Joe, but in the end, it's revealed that her actions say otherwise. You can't trust the people in this novel based off of what they say; you can only go off of actions.

Clothing

There's a lot of attention to detail when it comes to describing outfits in What I Saw and How I Lied. And that's no coincidence—we can tell a lot about the characters from what they're wearing.

Evie's mom takes a lot of care to wear alluring and feminine outfits, which is indicative of how she uses her feminine wiles to her advantage. And Evie starts off the novel wearing pinafores and other little girl clothes, but eventually moves onto the kind of outfits a grown woman would wear. This reflects her own personal growth throughout the novel—she starts off as a little girl, but ends the book as a young woman.

How does this work with the Graysons? How about when it comes to Peter?