First Blog- Characters

I thought for this blog that I wanted to talk about some of the characters in Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. (I know I talk about these characters like real people, but bear with me because it makes writing so much easier.) There are so many interesting characters with such unique personalities- especially Steven Ellerby. I think that Ellerby was one of my favorite characters mostly because of his obscurity and non-conformism. His nearly-blasphemous car, to his sharp tongue, and his great sense of humor made him so likeable to me. I was thankful that he could see right through the god-fearing Mark Brittain and stand up to him. Ellerby was just all around a smart guy- he knew what to say and do, but lost favor in other people because he could tend to be…weird.

Dale Thorton, however, deliberately separated himself- he was by-far the oldest kid in the eighth grade and an infamous bully. But I found that he was a decent guy, he was doing what he could to help Sarah Byrnes- his former friend. Though he wasn’t too smart (or big for that matter,) he was tough and knew what Sarah Byrnes was living with from experience. This made Dale steer away from the typically plain “mean bully” character- he’s deeper and plays a key element in Eric’s search for what’s wrong with Sarah. It was good for me to see Dale become a likeable character.

Mrs. Lemry was a character I liked but for no particular reason except for the fact that she was the “cool teacher”. Her Critical American Thinking class was the setting for most of the most thought provoking parts in this book, but there is not a lot that she does that makes you go “oh she’s definitely my favorite character” other than what she did to help Sarah Byrnes. I would say that I would want someone like her for a teacher- her personality somewhat reminds me of my eighth grade social studies teacher Ms. Burnett. But I wish that Chris Crutcher could have maybe done more to diversify Lemry from the “cool teacher” type we see so often.
Jody Mueller is another character that I would have like to see more sides of. Her abortion, to me, is the only thing that keeps her from being a “virginal ingénue” or a “love interest” character. She just seemed so single-sided to me, and I wish we could’ve seen more personality from her. But I did like Jody, which is why I wanted to see more about her. What I was thinking was “Eric likes Jody, but why?” But Jody was one of the characters in the book who was struggling to try to speak out and that was good to read.

I’m not really going into much detail on my opinions about Mark Brittain. I will say for a start that his hypocrisy and judgmental Christian ways made me dislike him. Also, I thought his attempt at suicide was cowardly- but I think suicide is mostly selfish and cowardly otherwise. What did make me feel better was the fact that Mark changed and made apologies- that takes character.

Lastly I’ll talk about Sarah Byrnes. I admired her strength and the fact that she was so smart and blunt. When I read how she kept taking one punch after another from Dale I was stunned. I know I couldn’t get back up over and over again, and I don’t think I really know that many people who could. Also to deal with all the abuse from her father, as well as the daily struggles in everyday life takes incredible strength of mind. When Sarah Byrnes argues about abortion in Mrs. Lemry’s class, I was in awe from the drama of that moment. Sarah Byrnes is so smart and clever and it’s sad to know that during all of those years her scars were keeping her from living having good friends surrounding her. But I found comfort in the fact that Sarah Byrnes does find a good home in the end of Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. (Yes, I’m such a sucker for happy endings.) I’ve thought about the option of reconstructive surgery and I’m uncertain whether I think Sarah Lemry should get surgery- on one hand she deserves it, but on the other hand her scars are part of who she is.