William English

Character Analysis

We meet William for about half a second, so if you're on the hunt for a character that we know a lot about, Will is not your guy. Here's what we know:

William Factoid (1): He's Susanna's big bro
William Factoid (2): He spends his days out at sea, being a colonial times bad boy. A bunch of thieving pirates aren't about to crush his resolve, no way no how.
William Factoid (3): He's really excited to see Susanna when he gets back home.
William Factoid (4): He takes Susanna out on his ship, which totally rocks.

And that's about it. Since big bro isn't around for most of the book, we only get to hear from him when he sends a letter home and at the very end of the book when he hops on shore. (By the way, in real life William English was lost at sea, so this reunion is one of the fictional parts of this book.)

So even though we don't see much of Will, these few interactions definitely let us know that he is a doting brother and son, which makes him pretty great in our book.

Why do you think it matters that we don't see much of William? Does seeing less of him than other characters make you think differently of him?