Protagonist Assignment Thingy

I have only begun reading the first chapter and a half of the book “The Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.” I have been introduced to many characters already but some of the more mentioned characters are Beth (Dave’s sister), Toph (Dave’s little brother), Dave’s mother, and of course Dave (the main character/narrator/author of this book).

In this novel the protagonist is Dave Eggers, a 21 year old young man who has lost both of his parents and now has his little brother to take care of. Dave has a twenty-four year old brother named Bill, a twenty-three year old sister named Beth, and seven year old brother named Toph. Dave’s appearance has not been described in the book yet but, even though there is a picture of him at the back of the book, I imagine him having dark eyes and hair and also a very nice smile. I find him very charming with the way he talks about things. He describes matters passionately but practically, he doesn’t over do it with heartbreaking description that will make readers feel sorry for him. As a reader, when a character goes on and on about all their problems in life I don’t feel sorry for them I just think they are complaining. Eggers finds a way to get his feelings on subjects across but never goes over the top, he moves on and at the same time becomes a stronger character by looking at the bright side of life. This is one thing I admire about Dave, his strength and determination to move on in life with whatever gets thrown at him.

Even though Dave is going through a hard time with his parents’ death and having to take care of his little brother he manages to keep up the humour. This is another thing I like about Dave; he is throwing serious subjects at the reader but will usually back them up with a clever remark to lighten things up.

I can relate quite well to Dave because he reminds me a lot of my oldest brother, Jeremy. They have the same kind of humour and they think the same at times. Dave reminded me most of Jeremy when he started talking about how “People know” (pg. 14). To summarize page fourteen, Dave talked about how if he heard people gossiping about his mother dying he would “... lift them over [his] head and bring them down, break them over [his] knee, their spines like dowels of balsa” (pg.14). All I could think about was when my brother was talking about how he would do something similar to anyone who ever hurt his family or anyone he cared about. The description on page fourteen is violent but I couldn’t help but laugh while reading it because obviously neither Dave nor Jeremy would ever “...pull out hearts and intestines and toss them aside” they just want the point to be across that they would not be happy if anyone were to hurt their family (pg.14). They just have different ways of showing their emotions than others.    

I am excited to keep reading and watch Dave's character transition!