Taken • cth

character analysis

I myself personally believe that characters are the most important part in a story. With complex and well written characters, even a shitty plot could work out nicely in the end. (At least with most of my reading experience)

When I started Taken, I knew I wanted each individual character to mean something. I really wanted to experiment with symbolism and thematic elements. In the end I think I achieved what I aimed to do, so if you're interested, here is a short analysis of each important character and why they had a part in the story.

• THE VILLAINS •

Eyeless Jack

Eyeless Jack, or Michael Clifford, represents the wounds of the past. He stayed hidden for three years, when Calum and Arrow were starting their new life, only beginning to resurface when Arrow started planning to see her mom. He is the one that abuses Arrow and Calum the most when they are captured, and hell bent on making everything worse. When he's beating Calum up, in one instance, he flicks the scar on his forehead (a wound from the past) and says "Give you more of these, huh?", showing how he can create more injuries on the timeline of Calum's life easily. He's the reason for most of Calum's pain in the story. When Arrow conquers him and shoves the fear of him out of her head, she can manipulate and use him to her advantage. He was no longer a huge threat to her, and in the end, she destroyed him, representing her letting go of the past and focusing solely on the future.

Ticcy Toby/Toby Rogers

Toby is the terrifying reality of the present. He, too, appears harmless and kind when Arrow first meets him, but he is really a horrible monster. He's a perfect representation of the horrors of everyday life, like death and lies, evil and manipulative people. Toby is very agile and fast in the story, showing how these things can slip right under our nose when we're happy and carefree, but once we start to fear them they become clear as day.

Jane