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Mikisha Lee

Farnsworth

English 102

March 9, 2010

Character Analysis Design

1. What character have you chosen? Why?

I chose Dewey Dell because I don’t feel we got the right impression on
her. Even though she seems to be a flirt and she is pregnant, we really don’t
know the whole deal with her. She is the only girl in the whole family and
now since her mother has passed, she has to kind of take care of herself. She
may not feel loved or important as the other kids.

2. In the nutshell, how do you describe this character based on your

reading?

When first meeting Dewey Dell, I just thought of some crazy and
confused teenager. It seemed as though she only cared about herself. She is
out flirting with some guy and having sex while her mother is dying. Now I’m
sure in those days they didn’t have that mother-daughter talks like today.
She seemed to be the troubled teen in the family and was in her own little
world. Being a teen mother and not married was not okay during these days.
She didn’t even want this child and tried to get an abortion. She also kind of
seems to be embarrassed of her sexuality and body. I do believe his Dewey
Dell actually thought before she made her actions, she wouldn’t be in this
position. Any girl can learn to take care of themselves in a respectable way.
At the end of the story, when she realized what the clerk was trying to do to
her, she stuck up for herself and didn’t let people take advantage of her.

3. Who can you compare this character to? Real or Fiction?

Dewey Dell reminds me of any teenager girl who would be pregnant at

the time and not really knowing what they want in life. Some teens get
pregnant because they want something to love them back. Well with Dewey
Dell being the only girl and only girl in the family and she’s kind of an outcast
she may feel at sometimes that having a child could be good. Also some
teens accidently get pregnant and believe they must get rid of it because it
may not look good for them. In this time her being pregnant and she wasn’t
married, didn’t look good for her. It just made it seem like she was a little
slut.

4. Describe a person living in our world who is similar to this

character? Generally, who is
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he/she? Where would we find him/her? With whom? Doing What?

This reminds me of a young girl I have known my whole life and she is
kind of in the same position as Dewey Dell. She was raised by her father and
didn’t have any guidance in her life. She was out all nights and had no one
giving her any discipline. Well she ended up getting pregnant by her twenty-
one year old boyfriend. She didn’t want her father to find out so she tried to
get an abortion. Well she could only get an abortion with permission from her
father. So he ended up finding out and would not let her go through with it.
Now she is living at home with her father taking care of her three year old
daughter. She had to drop out of school and get a job to help support her
and her family.

5. Please pull 3 quotes from the text that you feel are central to this
character. Use the example
below to format your choices.

“When I used to sleep with Vardaman I had a nightmare once I thought I was
awake but I couldn’t see and couldn’t feel the bed under me and I
couldn’t think what I was I couldn’t think of my name I couldn’t even
think I am a girl I couldn’t even think I nor even think I want to wake up
nor remember what was opposite to awake so I could do that I knew
that something was passing but I couldn’t even think of time then all of
a sudden I knew that something was it was wind blowing over me it
was like the wind came and blew me back from where it was I was not
blowing the room and Vardaman asleep and all of them back under me
again and going on like a piece of cool silk dragging across my naked
legs.”(121-122)

"It's because I'm alone. If I could just feel it, it would be different, because I
would not be alone. But if I were not alone, everybody would know it.
And he could do so much for me, and then I would not be alone. Then I
could be all right alone."(58-59)

“Are you going to tell pa are you going to kill him?” without the words I said
it and he said “Why?” without the words. (27)

6. What is the character’s significance in the novel?

She is important because Dewey Dell means having to do with farming

so she should be able to work and do things on her own without anyone help.

7. What specific attribute or aspect of the character do you think is

worth proving?

Dewey Dell is not a stupid girl who is just pregnant, but she is a girl
who is suffering from losing her mother and being used. Even though she
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may make mistakes, she can still be able to prove she can do things on her
own. She seems to learn to not let people use her.