Character Clues

Character Analysis

Clothing

When the great John comes home and impresses the boys, one of the most important parts of his figure is his get-up. He's dressed to impress, with "the frogged gray field-officer's tunic; and while we watched he drew the sabre" (1.2.1).

In case you're wondering, "frogged" doesn't mean he sewed a bunch of poor toads to his shirt; it refers to a fancy button-loop contraption. But anyway, the uniform conveys strength and importance, at least to the boys.

Location

Okay, this one is a little bit funky because every single character is located in the South. Of course, not all of them are Southerners. The Union officers are characterized, at least by the Southerners, as being barbarians: "And then the Yankee rode into the barn and saw us and threw down with the carbine and shot at us point blank with one hand, like it was a pistol, and said, 'Where'd he go, the rebel goddamn son of a b****!'" (2.3.13).

In contrast to the vision of the terrifying Yankee, there's an idea that Southerners would never scare a lady that way: "[T]hese were Southern men, and therefore, there would not even be any risk to this, because Southern men would not harm a woman" (4.4.1). Unfortunately, the location-based assessment of character is not foolproof and costs Granny her life.

Social Status

Not to beat you over the head with it, but obviously there's a huge difference between characters who are slaves and those who aren't. This scene basically boils it down: "[W]e were in bed—I in the bed itself, Ringo on the pallet beside it" (1.2.12). That subtle difference, between who gets the bed and who gets the floor, is representative of all the millions of differences in the ways that slaves live and the way their masters do.