Buddy's Cousin by MPiepmeyer

Indirect Characterization

mpiepmeyer02 — 2014-09-24 20:16:31 UTC

Superstitious: When counting the amount of money earned for fruitcakes they came to a total of $13, a number that has bad luck surrounding it. So, even though they are so tight on money, she throws a penny away just because she is so superstitious.

Frugal: "I'd rather hear you tell the story, Buddy. That way I can imagine it more" (65). Although this seems an explanation as to why she doesn't go to the movies, this truly displays how she would rather save money and spend it on Buddy than on herself. So, her frugality is something of true kindness and admiration.

Young at heart and mind: Throughout the story, the narrator made the cousin seem more like a child than an adult. Such as her choosing to go on crazy adventures with a seven year old boy, and she often seemed more immature than he. Such as when she made a childish mistake of giving a child whiskey.

Direct Characterization

mpiepmeyer02 — 2014-09-24 20:16:59 UTC

"A woman with white short hair... She is small and sprightly, like a bantam hen... her shoulders are pitifully hunched. Her face is remarkable... and her eyes are sherry-colored and timid... she is sixty something" (64).

"It is because my friend is shy with everyone except strangers" (68). "but my friend is sly and noncommittal" (70).

Symbol for Buddy's Cousin

mpiepmeyer02 — 2014-09-24 20:17:04 UTC

Buddy's cousin is in no way better symbolized than by an old beaten-up kite. An old beaten up kite has gone through a lot in its long life span just as Buddy's cousin had. Even though her life was not glorious she was still able to fly just as high as anyone else. She is also completed her final flight up to heaven. As an item that is usually perceived as something full of youth and vibrance for it to be also old and worn truly describes what Buddy's Cousin is. That is why Buddy's Cousin is best symbolized by this worn out kite.

Quote from her

mpiepmeyer02 — 2014-09-24 20:17:20 UTC

"My, how foolish I am! You know what I've always thought? I've always thought a body would have to be sick and dying before they saw the Lord. And I imagined that when He came it would be like looking at the Baptist window: pretty as colored glass with the sun pouring through, such a shine you don't know it's getting dark. And it's been a comfort: to think of that shine and taking away all the spooky feeling. But I'll wager it never happens. I'll wager at the very end a body realizes the Lord has already shown Himself. That things as they are just what they've always seen, was seeing Him. As for me, I could leave the world with today in my eyes" (72). This quote also takes place near the finale of the story. This quote featured Buddy's cousin foreshadowing the plot and eventually death. This is the last words Buddy's cousin is seen to be said, as she begins to slowly pass away from their final Christmas together.

Quote about her

mpiepmeyer02 — 2014-09-24 20:17:27 UTC

"But gradually in her letters she tends to confuse me with her other friend, the Buddy who died in the 1880s; more and more, thirteenths are not the only days she stays in bed: A morning arrives in November, a leafless bird less coming of winter morning, when she cannot rouse herself to exclaim: "Oh my, it's fruitcake weather!" (72).

The quote takes place near the finale of the story, when Buddy begins to realize how his cousin has weakened. She has forgotten his name, and her strength drained to the extent in which she cannot wake up in late November to realize the time for fruitcakes.

By: William Nguyen and Michael Piepmeyer

mpiepmeyer02 — 2014-09-24 20:30:06 UTC