Thomas Behnke
Prof. Walia
ENW302
10/03/2019
Character Sketch
CHARACTER: David Talbot
David is a white male in his early 40s. He has longer than fashionable blond hair, is tall and angular. He is a writer and usually dresses casually, but today he wearing a dress shirt and tie, which he wears with equal success and comfort.
David has a low tenor voice with a New York (Bronx) accent. The intensity of that accent correlates exactly to the amount of emotion he is feeling..
David wants to heal the rift between himself and his teenage daughter, Laura, who is graduating high school today. He has not seen or spoken to her in over two years.
David has several obstacles to his goal, including both his actions and inaction in the past regarding his relationship with both his wife and his daughter. He feels he is winning the battle with his past demons, but the fight has affected the people close to him and he has made mistakes. The ultimate obstacle is David’s ex-wife, Laura’s mother, who has involved Laura in their marital problems, and through her actions has alienated Laura from David. In the immediate sense, the train David is on is also an obstacle as there is a long delay when David is heading toward the graduation, threatening to make him late.
David has not been invited to the graduation and surely will not be welcome, but he is going anyway. He has written a journal that he wants to give to Laura that explains his side of the story, including how much he loves her and misses her and the reasons he had to leave. He chose the journal because he is never allowed to be alone with Laura and anything he says is immediately contradicted by her mother. He is hoping Laura will read the unfiltered journal in private. He plans to watch the graduation as anonymously as possible, and once the ceremony is over, give Laura the book and leave.
Ysabelle
She’s Filipino-American. She has black hair that reaches her back. She’s very slender. Her eyes are light brown. She’s 20 years old. Her skin is a bit tan. She always has her nails done. She dresses in athletic wear a lot of the time because she’s a dancer.
She is from the Bronx. She uses slang a lot. She is also outspoken. She speaks her mind whenever she wants.
She wants to move out of her parent’s home. (freedom) She wants to have a better relationship with her mother.
Her mother demands her to take care of the younger siblings because the father left them for another woman. The mom constantly puts down Ysabelle and makes her feel like she is not important.
She works two jobs in order to make more money to put into her savings to move out. She begins to go against her mother’s wishes and doesn’t watch the children sometimes. She tries to have a heart to heart talks with her mom about her life. She spends time with her mom by taking her out to dinner, buying her a gift, and helping to pay the bills.
Joseph
He’s 6’3. He’s African-American but light skin. He has brown eyes. He has a lot of tattoos. His hair is short.
He is rude. He likes to joke around. He is blunt. He is easily irritated.
He wants to break up with his girlfriend of 3 years. He wants to stop working so much.
His girlfriend’s parents died in a car crash. He doesn’t want to leave her alone in her time of need. He gets fired from his current job that pays well because he cursed out his boss. He cannot afford to be without his job because his lifestyle is expensive.
He begins searching for a new job. He fights with his girlfriend about small things. He tries to avoid seeing her all day until it’s time to go to bed. He goes out every weekend to hang out with his friends. He begins to see someone else at the same time. He becomes frustrated when his new job isn’t what he wants.
Mayor Geraldine Hanover is in her late fifties. She is aging gracefully. She has short, businesslike gray hair. She dresses professionally at all times—even her pajamas are courtly, like flannel versions of her signature pantsuits. She thinks her style makes her look dignified and official, but it has the unintended (and politically dangerous) consequence of stuffiness and artifice. She knows that the public, and her critics, will hold a much sharper magnifying glass to the way she looks and dresses compared to her male counterparts, so she always puts significant effort into planning out which shade of pearls to wear or which heel size is appropriate.
Behind closed doors, the mayor speaks in a more relaxed, sometimes even blunt, tone. She only lets go of her politically savvy inhibitions when speaking with her most trusted associates (her family and a few of her staff members). In all other contexts, she speaks with authoritative, orthodox, stately carefulness. Decades of political and legal experience have conditioned her to behave almost robotically, but lately her shell of decorum has started to crack.
She wants to put an end to the crises plaguing her town. Her handling of a devastating storm last winter and its impacts on local infrastructure was the subject of merciless ridicule, and it set many townspeople against her. There have been several deaths due to opioids. She wants to improve the town’s education system, because the district has been lagging behind in academic test scores in recent years. She earnestly desires to solve these issues, so her care for the well-being of others is a major factor in her desire to remain in power, but she would be lying if she claimed re-election and a lifelong hunger for recognition have not also come into play.
For the first time in twenty years, she is facing a challenger in the upcoming primary election. Her competitor is younger, friendlier, does not have all the hefty baggage that comes with a decades-long political career, and is more adept at connecting with citizens in a way that seems genuine.
Recency Bias has caused the public to forget about Mayor Hanover’s previous accomplishments—helping the town recover from the 2008 recession, increasing awareness of mental health in schools, and championing environmental causes since the 90’s—and focus solely on her current fumbles. Her public image has never been spottier, and she needs to overhaul her entire persona if she wants to maintain her people’s trust (and coveted ballots).
She is weary of trying to be “hip” like her competitor because she worries it could make her look even more tone-deaf and out of touch than she already appears, but she has made some concrete efforts to be more attuned to the changes that are affecting her town. She has hired more diverse, people-oriented strategists and staff. She has been doing more groundwork, speaking directly to the residents and workers of the town to listen (or at least seem to listen) to their concerns. She is walking a fine line between cringeworthily clinging to relevance and coming across as a real human being who understands her constituents and their livelihoods, anxieties, and complexities.
Character #1: Rhea
Image: She has smooth olive skin and long, but frizzy curly hair. Her eyes are big, brown and curious, her eyelashes naturally long and curled. Her athletic body shows that she enjoys exercising or at the very least cares about her health, yet her fashion sense prioritizes comfort over appearance and femininity. People often assume she is much younger than she really is because of her kind face and the lightness of her steps.
Voice: She is quiet and soft-spoken, but can also be sarcastic and assertive when she feels comfortable with the people around her or in the place that she is in. She has been an avid reader from a young age and this shows in her speech when words that are outdated or unusual in daily speech slip in conversation. She speaks hurriedly when she is nervous or anxious and sometimes a slight Hispanic accent becomes noticeable when she talks to family and friends.
Desire: She wants a caring boyfriend, someone that will understand and accept her and all of her quirks. She wants to figure out what she wants to do as a career. She wants to know what makes her so special and whether she is special at all. Initially she wants to stay in the “In Between”, the alternate dimension she discovered when she held her breath for too long, and where she has met a boy that she likes.
Conflict: The death of her grandmother interferes with her desire to stay in the “In Between”. Her vanity and idea of what the “perfect guy” should look like initially gets in the way of her developing a relationship with the boy from the “In Between”. She is torn between picking medicine or writing as a career because she wants to help people but also loves books, however, she is also unsure of whether picking anything at all is worth it because she might end up staying in the “In Between”.
Action: She starts dating a very attractive guy on Earth and realizes that the perfect guy does not necessarily have to be conventionally handsome. She attempts to read most of the books from the library in the “In Between” in order to understand more about Earth and about the “In Between” and make her decision.
Character #2: Alvis
Image: Alvis is a tall old man. He has a long beard that almost touches the floor and he wears round glasses. He lives in the library and wears ankle-length dress pants with ankle socks peeking from underneath, oxford shoes, and knitted sweaters over printed button-downs.
Voice: Alvis’ voice is really low and he speaks very slowly and softly. His speech seems calculated and educated, he sounds like the kind of man who has lived many lives and thinks before he talks.
Desire: Alvis wants to go back to Earth, although he seems to be stuck in the In Between. He wants to help Rhea learn about all the great things that she would be missing if she left her life on Earth and ultimately convince her to go back.
Conflict: Initially, Alvis is only interested in helping Rhea because he believes she is the key to figuring out how he can go back to Earth. However, as he gets to know her, he becomes her close friend and his moral compass and genuine care for her get in the way of his plan to take advantage of her for his own selfish benefit.
Action: Alvis spends most of his days reading, he holds the record for the man who has read the most books in a lifetime. He also teaches Rhea about science, philosophy, history and everything she needs to know in order to make her decision.
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