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Direct characterization :
Bryon is a 16 years old rebellious boy known for being a playboy. He has a lot of friends but doesn't get attached easily. Throughout the book, he becomes more studious, less childish, reflective and hard working.
Indirect characterization :
Bryon is a big and strong boy with black hair. At the beginning of the book, Bryon beats up others, steals from people, he has a pretty bad behavior. Throughout the book we can see he starts asking himself questions and he's having mature and meaningful thoughts about life.

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Direct characterization :
Mark is a 16 years old rebellious boy who is a wild child and has no sense of morality.

Indirect characterization :
Mark looks like a "golden lion" with gold hair and golden eyes. Mark doesn't care about a lot of things, such as authorities, he can get away with almost everything. He doesn't really think things through and has no remorse. He does things because he feels like it and doesn't need a reason to do something immoral.

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Direct characterization :
M&M is a 13 years old hippie boy. He is characterized for being very smart, innocent and honest, but a bit weird.

Indirect characterization :
M%M looks kind of nerdy with long brown hair, glasses and dressed like a hippie. M&M, who is unaccepted for being who he is in his family, becomes insecure about himself and wants to leave his family to go in a house full of hippies who accepts him, which he does. His actions are the results of being mistreated and judged.

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Direct characterization :
Cathy is Bryon's girlfriend. She is very responsible and serious girl who takes her studies very seriously.

Indirect characterization :
Cathy is a blonde girl who will change for the best Bryon. She is very mature and her actions fades on Bryon. She acts very responsively and thinks everything through, she hardly never break down because she holds and controls her emotions.

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That Was Then This Is now takes place in Tusla, Oklahoma in the 60s where two best friends, Mark Jennings and Bryon Douglas, who consider themselves as brothers, live together under Bryon's mom's roof located in a poor white neighborhood. Other important characters are M&M Carlson and Charlie, both close friends to the pair and Cathy Carlson, M&M's sister and Bryon's girlfriend.

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p.11

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p.12

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p.18

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p.32

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The main characters in That Was Then This Is Now are Bryon and his best friend Mark. Bryon even says they consider themselves as brothers at the beginning of the book. We can see throughout the book that they take some left turns but they always try to reconcile.

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Mainly, two characters show real personal changes, Bryon and M&M.
Bryon, at the beginning of the book,  was basically a rebellious fight-loving teenager who was very dependent of Mark, an even rebellious kid. Throughout the story, we can see Bryon is changing, asking more serious questions, realizing he is growing up and acting more independently. We can say he matured a lot.

For M&M, he has always been different from the others, being the only hippie character, being younger, being considered weird by others, being unapproved by his father for the way he was etc. He changed, started taking drugs and hanging with others that were also taking drugs. He changed, but by downgrading comparatively to Bryon who became a better version of himself.

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Another main theme of the book is always doing the right thing.
We could see characters having dilemma about what is right and what is wrong to do.
For M&M, he taught the only right thing to do was to leave his family and to go live with the other hippies because his family (mainly his father) didn't approve of him.
For Mark, he taught the right thing to do was to sell drugs because it was the easiest and most remunerative way to get money and help paying living costs.
For Bryon, despite his extremely bond with Mark, taught the right thing to do was to call the cops on Mark after finding out he was selling drugs to M&M's gang.

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Throughout the book, we can see Mr. Carlson isn't understanding and supportive of his son's choices : long hair, the way he dresses, the way he thinks etc. he disapproves of his son and that affects his confidence and the actions M&M takes.

Type :
External, human vs human

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Throughout the book, we can see different situations where one of the two friends made a decision that the other didn't approve or didn't think was right. This led to an accumulation, and, of course, an overflow where Bryon couldn't take it anymore because Mark had done something that was completely wrong from Bryon's point of view. That led to Bryon's decision to call the police, and the pair's complete separation and Mark's hatred toward Bryon.

Type :
External, human vs human

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This conflict isn't exactly Bryon vs Charlie, it's more like Bryon vs Charlie's situation. Bryon and Charlie were friends and Bryon used to go to Charlie's bar often. When Charlie was murdered in front of his eyes, Bryon felt a lot of guilt, we can see he fights for that feeling to go away for a good part in the book. That event opened Bryon's eyes and was part of Bryon's growing up process.

Type :
External, human vs society, human vs human

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We can see M&M being slowly talked into drugs. At the end of the book, where he is found unwell because of the drug overdose, he fights against spiders he is hallucinating. His body and his systems are fighting against that drug to come back to normal. he slowly gets better, but could possibly collapse again. We can say M&M is fighting against the addiction and the drug itself.

Type :
Internal conflict, human vs self

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Since the day Cathy arrived in Bryon's life, Mark never really liked her, and the same goes for Cathy. This unexplained conflict between these two created insecurities in Bryon and Cathy's relationship and in Bryon and Mark's friendship.

Type :
Internal (for Mark and Cathy), external (for Bryon), human vs human

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We can see Mark has a lot of problems when it comes to respecting the law. Mark isn't afraid of authorities, or anything to be honest. He does what he wants without thinking about the repercussions of his acts, which led him in jail.

Type :
Internal, human vs society