Characters and Characterization Essay

Characters undergo different changes regarding growth and development within a story set up. For the continuous flow of the story and to keep it relevant, there is always a need for changes different aspects. There are different types of characters in a story; some of them change their type in the course of the story, making them dynamic. Focusing on the two stories, "Hands" by Sherwood Anderson and "the Canebrake' 'by Mohammed Mrabet, the paper set to discuss the character and characterization of two characters Wing Biddlebaum/Adolph Myer and Kacem.

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The two authors use different uses different characterization techniques to introduce the characters. Sherwood Anderson in his text uses physical quality to describe Wing Biddlebaum for the first time. The author describes him as a fat old man, nervously pacing near the wines burg town, Ohio. The reader gets an idea of how the man in question looks like. Mohammed Mrabet, on the other hand, uses action as an introduction technique. He talks of the daily afternoon meetings of Kacem and his friend Stito at a cafe for a drink and smoke respectively. From their actions as depicted from the introduction, the reader can predict the character's personality.

Wing Biddlebaum/Adolph Myer is the protagonist in "Hands." He is the center of the story with every aspect revolving around him from the start to the end.in "the Canebrake' 'however, Kacem is depicted as the main character, acting as the pivot point between the other characters such as his wife and friend. The protagonist and the main character are more or less the same in the sense that they shape and fine-tune the story (Maetz et al. 32). Both the characters are dynamic in the sense that they change and develop from the beginning of the story to the end.

Pointing out the character development of Kacem throughout the story, several changes can be noted from the start of the story to the end. The story starts with a description of Kacem as a drunkard who locks up her wife whenever he went out to meet with his friend. Kacem had a routine of taking his friend Stito for meals prepared by Kasem's wife (Halpern 57). This focal character forgot his sex duties since their wedding as the wife is seen complaining and crying that Kacem had not loved her since they wed. The story in the start portrays Kacem as a man who does not perform his conjugal duties to his wife and on the other hand, a sadist who keeps the wife locked up as he goes out.

Kacem's first change is seen when the wife shows him whatever she held in her hands from canebrake sex scene. For the first time, the character goes to bed sober. The next change occurs the following day when Kacem meets his friend at the cafe and instead of taking his usual drink, decides to smoke. It is still on the same day that the character left his wife free and did not lock her up. The final and the most critical change occurs when Kacem returns home sober, promises never to look up the wife and for the first time in a long time playing games with her.

Wing Biddlebaum/Adolph Myer character also depicted several changes as the story moved to the end. The story, however, starts from the end. Wing Biddlebaum uses his hands to caress the face of his friend, a young boy known as George. The act pricks a horrifying memory on the mind of the old man who gives a scary look afterward. From this scene, the story provides a throwback, making the reader understand the changes which the character has registered throughout the story. It is at this point that we get to realize that Wing Biddlebaum was initially known as Adolph Myer.

Adolph Myer was a teacher in a boys' school in Pennsylvania. With tenderness, he natured the boys, and they all adored him. With the hope of passing on his dreams to the boys, he stroked and caressed the hair of the boys. The first change occurred when a boy from the school accused the protagonist of hernias act of sexual stimulation (Gale 24). The significant change, however, happened when a man came to the school and started beating the schoolmaster to the point of him being driven out of Pennsylvania. He then moved to Wines burg and stayed with her aunt in the town where he got a new name and where his once trouble causing hands made him famous.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is right to note that the two characters Kacem and Wing Biddlebaum/Adolph Myer played critical roles in the build-up of the two stories "the Canebrake' ' and ''Hands'' respectively. The two characters Created the focal points in the two works of literature and provided the smooth flow of each storyline. They both are associated with different changes as the stories flow from beginning to the end. The authors Mohammed Mrabet and Sherwood Anderson effectively used the characterization techniques to introduce the two principal characters from the two stories.

Works Cited

Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for Sherwood Anderson's" Hands." Gale Cengage Learning, 2016.

Halpern, Daniel, ed. The art of the story: An international anthology of contemporary short stories. Penguin Group USA, 2000.

Maetz, Yves, Anne Lambert, and Marc Eluard. "Method and Device for Performing Story Analysis." U.S. Patent Application No. 14/919,855.