Here we go, folks, Fan Mail Wednesday. This one came via the interwebs!
I am going to be a 7th grader this September. Over this summer, I decided to read Bystander. I have couple of questions.
1. How does Eric’s personality change throughout the story？
2. How would you describe Eric Hayes using metaphor?
It would be helpful if you could reply as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rika
I replied:
Wait a minute, this sounds like homework! I hate homework! Or you trying to trick me into doing your homework?
Okay, I’ll play.
To me, Eric’s personality doesn’t make a radical change over the course of the story. I think his awareness changes, his understanding grows, as he observes more things. Remember, he’s new to the school; he has no past with any of those characters. That’s how I think of him in this story, he’s a witness, an observer, almost in a role that’s similar to that of a detective working a mystery. We generally don’t ask how Sam Spade changed in a story, or Philip Marlowe (classic detectives of American Literature, btw). Instead, Eric’s perception deepens, he learns, he grows. For “change,” I’d look to Mary, since I think she’s the real key to the story, even though she is a so-called minor character.
Describe Eric Hayes using metaphor? He’s a camera. Click. A video recorder. A secret listening device. He’s one of those cameras hidden behind the mirror at all the ATM machines. He sees, he records, he absorbs. He is also, as I wrote earlier, “like” a detective.
As you might know, I wrote the “Jigsaw Jones” mystery series. 40 books in all. And I’ve actually thought quite a bit about detectives, read a lot of mysteries, and studied up on the genre some. The key to a detective — in the great tradition of the detective novel through the years — is that he (or she!) is the moral compass of the story. The person with a deep sense of justice. The person who sorts out right and wrong in a world gone bad. The reliable narrator. The great detective is the through-line in the story, the voice you can trust in a world of lies and corruption.
Does that help?
Now go out and have a terrific summer!
And hey, Rika — you are welcome!
JP
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