Katia Matsapura

Group 403

Character sketch

The major character who plays an important role in the story is Christopher Crost.
He is the central person of the story so he is the protagonist.

According to the complexity, Christopher is a flat character possessing no more

than two personality traits. In my opinion, the main traits of his character are
uncertainty and proudness, because he says about himself:“…if only I'd swallowed
my pride and told her everything, perhaps she would've found it in her heart to
forgive me, but I was as proud as she was.” So, he may be summarized in one
word as “selfish coward.”

Christopher Crost is static character because he remains the same during the whole
history and doesn’t change. We can see it at the beginning of the letter when he
explains his noninvolvement in the murder of his wife and in the end of the story
when he states that he is innocent and begs Justin Solomon believe him.

This character is revealed both directly and indirectly. In the first case, he is
revealed through his own description of himself: “When I confessed that it really
was my fault, that I'd always been a selfish coward,” “I was as proud as she was”,
“I tried to tell Emily about my father and me, why I was so weak, was still so
weak, afraid to tell my wife about her”, “I'm innocent”. In the second case,
through the thoughts of other characters, when Justin, Jr. understands that
Christopher is really guiltless in the murder of his wife: “Then he's innocent. You
must set him free.” According to the psychiatrist, he totally blocked the
experience, so Justin Solomon can’t release him because “That would be a cruder
punishment.” Furthermore, Christopher has positive traits of character and the
author revealed them indirectly through his behavior. For example, he is loving
and careful husband. Despite the fact, that there was any sexual life with his wife,
he fell in love with her even more, he fell in love into a friendship.

Based on the above, we may state that this character is really selfish, proud and
afraid to admit his guilt. It was because of his stubbornness that the two people
most dear to him died. But if he had first confessed to his wife, all this could have
been avoided.