Character Profiles and Analysis

1
Im Not Scared

• Character Profiles and Analysis

2
Michele - Overview

• Protagonist we see the events of the book
  through Micheles eyes.
• Due to his young age, and his innocence, there
  are often gaps between what he understands and
  what the reader understands.
• Overall, he is the moral backbone of the novel.

3
Michele - Loyalty

• Michele is very loyal and the novel highlights
  the tension between these loyalties.
• He is loyal to
• Parents constant excuses and sympathy for their
  blatant wrongdoing
• Maria acts as the Big Brother figure
• Filippo he cant leave him alone, especially
  after he promises hell come back
• His innately loyal nature is why he compares
  himself to Judas when he betrays Filippo to
  Salvatore.

4
Michele - Compassion

• Michele displays compassion to those he considers
  vulnerable.
• For example,
• Returning to help his sister during the race up
  the hill, despite fear of being last (p.4)
• Overcoming his initial revulsion of Filippo
  (p.112)
• Ignores his pain to get Filippo out of the hole
  (p.212)
• The desire to tell Filippo that his mother loves
  him (p.95)

5
Michele - Morality

• Unlike the adults (and some of the children),
  Michele maintains a strong sense of personal
  integrity and justice.
• For example
• Completes the forfeit in place of Barbara as an
  act of chivalry
• There was something dirty, something...I dont
  know. Something nasty thats all. And I didnt
  like my sister being there. (p. 19)

6
Michele - Imaginative

• Michele has an active imagination that informs
  his perceptions of the world.
• He creates narratives by infusing fantasy with
  reality.
• His imagination is the thing that both fuels and
  eases his fears.
• For example
• Uses mythical creatures, such as Tiger Jack and
  the monsters entering the bus, to overcome his
  fears (p.114-115)
• Uses analogies to explain situations, cat cruelly
  taunting the lizard (p.184)

7
Michele - Courageous

• Michele has very little confidence in himself yet
  will always stand up against his fear, not only
  to protect himself but other people
• For example
• Standing up for Barbara in the forfeit, despite
  being afraid of Skull (p.20)
• Compares himself to Tiger Jack (p.44-45)
• Michele defends his mother and throws himself at
  Felice to protect her (p.152)
• Michele sneaks out to find Filippo when he knows
  they are coming to murder him (p.195)
• He tells his father to run for it, even though
  he is shot and dying in the hole (p.215)

8
Michele - Innocence

• Micheles innocent nature is most striking when
  looking at how he deals with his fears, and the
  reference points he uses to understand
  situations.
• At first he was afraid of ogres and witches,
  explaining that the boy was down the hole because
  he had been caught by an ogre (p.39).
• The form of his shape and fears is fantasy but
  his ability to sense the presence of evil is not.
• As he is confronted with ever-increasing
  traumatic situations from the adult world, he
  slowly begins to accept the horrible truth that
  monsters dont exist...Its men you should be
  afraid of, not monsters... (p.49)

9
Michele- Innocence (cont.)

• For example
• In the beginning he is too young to understand
  kidnapping or grasp the implications. However, he
  is later afraid that Sergio will take me away
  (p.94). This shows he has an instinctual
  understanding.
• Originally viewed Filippos as a prize (p.29)
• - Michele believed Filippo was being tortured
  by witches and ogres (p.56)
• - Admits to being naive as to why Barbara was
  always picked on I dont know but even then I
  knew that someone always gets the bad luck
  (p.18)

10
Michele Innocence (cont.)

• Makes up story about the half-brother to excuse
  his fathers involvement (p.67)
• Consequences are centred on parental discipline.
  He wanted to save Filippo from being shot but
  needed to get home before his parents found him
  missing (p.207)
• Material possessions, in the beginning, were
  highly valued for example, Subbuteo team (p.
  131-132). His rejection of the Red Dragon bike at
  the end indicates a shift in his values and
  perspectives (p.163-165)
• His reference-points to explain situations are
  very child-like, for example, when Sergio
  threatens Felice he describes it as being like
  one-two-three-star (p.194)

11
Michele Intelligent and Perceptive

• Michele has the ability to use knowledge from
  other situations to quickly come upon a
  conclusion. He uses this intelligence to calm his
  fears.
• For example
• - While doing the forfeit, he overcomes his fear
  by remembering from a book that lizards use
  perfect weight distribution to climb walls (p.25)
• Draws the link between the saucepan in the house
  and his own (p.61)
• While searching for Filippo, he uses his
  knowledge of the owl to discover him (p. 207)
• Notices specifics of how Filippo is being
  treated poorly (p.108)

12
Pino (Papa) - Overview

• Hes the boss of Acqua Traverse but is
  eventually shown to be an incompetent criminal
  a big fish in a small pond.
• As a truck driver hes often away from his
  family, leaving him quite disconnected from his
  children
• He is not inherently evil but a victim of his own
  incompetence and greed
• Towards the end he becomes a somewhat pitiable
  and pathetic creature, indicative of when he
  loses Soldiers Draw.

13
Pino Cruelty

• While Pino isnt as openly violent and aggressive
  as certain characters, his role in the kidnapping
  still shows his cruel nature.
• He believes that the downfall of others will lead
  to the fulfilment of his own goals and ambitions.
• For example
• He is merciless, actively seeking revenge. Papa
  made the scissors sign with his fingers. Two
  ears. Well cut off two (p.86)
• Micheles adoration begins to wain when he
  connects his father with the treatment of
  Filippo. Papa was the bogeyman (p.87)

14
Pino Emotional Manipulator

• Pino plays on the emotions and fears of others.
  Throughout the novel, he shows that he gets what
  he wants by toying and playing with the emotions
  of others.
• To him, people are just pawns to be played.
• For example
• Places the safety of Filippo on Micheles head,
  saying that they will shoot Filippo and that it
  would be Micheles fault (p.156)
• Threatens that if Michele went back, he would be
  breaking his fathers oath (p.156)
• Tries to justify his actions by saying that the
  worlds wrong, thereby shifting the guilt and
  ultimate blame (p.157)

15
Pino Emotional Manipulator (cont)

• Uses gifts as a way of communicating and buying
  actions. eg The Red Dragon to distract Michele
  from Filippo (p.163).
• Distorts the truth, often giving vague and fake
  promises. And provides misleading answers to
  questions, eg theyll shoot him (p.156)

16
Teresa (Mother) - Overview

• Stereotypical Italian housewife.
• Unquestioningly devoted to her husband
• Concerns herself with her childrens physical
  needs (food, safety) but is almost blind to their
  emotional needs
• She lacks any curiosity or concern about
  Micheles contact with Filippo
• Its interesting that as a mother, she lacks any
  maternal connection to the child they are
  torturing

17
Teresa - Powerless

• Teresa is weak and powerless to the evil
  occurring in Acqua Traverse.
• For example
• When the adults are becoming irrational and
  making rash decisions, all she could do was sit
  and repeat to herself Be quiet (p.193-194)
• She was able to do things in the background but
  remembered to do trivial things like turning off
  lights and housewife duties (p.84)
• She would attend to her children without being
  needed for discussion (p.188-191).

18
Filippo - Overview

• The 9 year-old kidnap victim
• The son of Lombard businessman Giovanni Carducci
• His mother describes him as a good boy, polite,
  very shy
• The adults have dehumanised him, seeing him as
  nothing more than a bargaining chip

19
Filippo Traumatised and Abused

• Filippo is both mentally and physically abused to
  the point where he becomes almost a shell of the
  person he once was.
• PHYSICALLY
• I couldnt see him clearly. It was dark and full
  of flies and the sickening smell welled up
  (p.45)
• He is incredibly vulnerable. There are scabs on
  his eyes, hes naked, wont come out of his
  blanket, hasnt eaten.
• The dead boys skin was dirty and caked with mud
  and shit. He was naked (p. 46)
• Hes become scared of physical closeness, due to
  being hit and the conditions hes in As soon as
  he felt I was near him, he cowered against the
  wall (p.72)

20
Filippo Traumatised and Abused (cont.)

• MENTALLY
• He is traumatised and lost a sense of reality
• - Outside theres no air. Outside Ill
  suffocate (139)
• the worlds a place full of holes (110)
• He thinks his family is dead (109)
• He is obsessed with the wash bears (p.74)
• He creates labels / characters to describe the
  people in his life, such as Lord of the Worms and
  Guardian Angel (p.74)

21
Felice - Overview

• A sadistic and cruel bully who targets children
• Skulls 20 year-old brother
• A tormented soul, a loner because of his
  anti-social behaviour
• He had left Acqua Traverse Michele
  instinctually knew Felice was involved
• Felices innate immorality and violence is
  alluded to when the way he looks at Teresa
  changes after intimate parts of her body are
  exposed

22
Felice - Contradictory

• Felices nature is quite contradictory
  containing both elements of strong (aggressive)
  and weak (vulnerable) characteristics.
• For example
• Strong
• Punches Sergio in the face (p. 192-193)
• Viciously attacks Teresa (p.151-152)
• Treats Filippo poorly, who he threatens to
  squash...like a worm (p.74)
• Weak
• After the fight with Teresa, runs away from Papa
  (p. 152)
• Not being able to kill Filippo, despite all the
  talk (p.193)
• Sheds a tear when Sergio tries to bully him into
  killing (p.194)

23
Sergio - Overview

• Represents the North
• He has a strong sense of arrogance and
  superiority over the villagers
• He comes to the South to sort out the mess that
  the villagers have made.

24
Sergio Evil

• There are several indications in the novel that
  show Sergio as a man to be feared.
• For example
• Believing that his sons wife was responsible for
  his death, he says he dealt with it - That bitch
  paid for it (p.118)
• Fighting escalates from a fist-fight to weaponry.
  He takes it up a level (p.193)
• Treats others with little respect in the way he
  speaks to them, eg calling the father an imbecile
  (p.84)
• The way he speaks to Michele, are you quiet. I
  like quiet children (p.93)
• Lazy, monopolises situations, opportunistic
  evident in his description of Brazil (p.167)

25
The Gang

• Skull
• Brute who doesnt like to be told hes wrong.
  Evident with Milichettis pigs (p.10).
• Dominates everyone Its nothing to do with you,
  shut up.
• - Hes sadistic and perverted, evident with
  the forfeit he asks of Barbara (p.19)
• Salvatore
• Quiet and follows orders around him to make
  others pleased he was brighter that Skull and
  could have easily deposed him (p.3)
• Introverted, evident with the piano lessons
  (p.130-131)
• Comes from a wealthy family, mothers obnoxious
  with their wealth (p.126-127)

26
The Gang (cont.)

• Barbara
• Obnoxious she is a sheep and falls easily into
  orders.
• Despite initial protests, she always does the
  forfeit, but finds another way for revenge. For
  example, telling Milichetti what Skull had said
  about his pigs (p.11)
• Asks Michele to be her boyfriend (p.98), which he
  recoils at, but is still polite to her.
• Remo
• He is in the background but goes along with the
  gang.
• Maria
• Youngest. Tries to follow the gang but is only
  there because of Teresas influence.
• Looks up to Michele, always wants to do what hes
  doing.

27
Relationships Michele and Papa

• Michele originally idolises his father. He thinks
  his father can do no wrong. As the novel
  progresses, Michele is exposed to the true nature
  of his fathers character.
• At first he tries to rationalise his fathers
  actions but he eventually cant deny the facts.

28
Relationships Michele and Filippo

• Its a relationship of familiarity they are the
  same age, same height.
• Michele originally sees Filippo as a prize he has
  won. Later, his caring nature makes him feel
  obliged to help him.
• Michele becomes Filippos guardian angel
• Filippo becomes attached to Michele, eg when he
  wont leave him (p.213)

29
Relationships Michele and Salvatore

• Best friends. Do whatever they feel is in the
  best interests of each other or themselves.
• Salvatore betrays Michele for a driving lesson.
• Salvatore wins back Micheles trust by helping
  him win 40-40.
• Salvatore ends up helping Michele find Filippo

30
Relationships Michele and Felice

• Dont like each other.
• Felice bullies Michele.
• When Felice find Michele in the hole, he beats
  him.
• Michele fears Felice.

31
Relationships The Family

• Patriarchal family father is the head
  (disciplinarian, breadwinner), mother housewife
  etc
• Family is quite disconnected because of Pinos
  long trips. This is a heavy burden on Teresa.
• The children idolise the parents. While the
  parents look after the fundamentals of their
  childrens well-being, they take no interest in
  their emotional happiness.

32
Relationships The Adults

• The adults dont trust each other and are very
  quick to turn and point the finger of blame.

33

• Vate
• Insight
• 11B Class 2010