Dynamic Characters In 'The Hand-Me Downs'

Dynamic Characters in “The Hand-Me Downs”

In the story “The Hand-Me Downs” there is a character named Simon whose actions are based on his brother’s actions. Simon is a dynamic character because his actions mirror those of his brother. The story revolves around two brothers and how they moved into a house that a girl died in. Simon is an example of a dynamic character because his actions mirror those of his brother when he plays the twisted game with him, while he is shooting his brother and finally when he rips the doll apart.

The first example that Simon is mirroring his brother’s actions can be seen when he starts playing a twisted game with his brother. At the start Simon is just absently playing the game and not thinking of the deep psychological reasoning behind it Through this game Simon goes through the realization that his brother Ricky might be a little crazy for wanting to start/continue to play a game where they kill a doll and run away. When Simon finally finds the doll he thinks to himself “For a second Simon marveled at how far Ricky had carried the game the two of them had played all summer…” (Poole, 1). From that thought it becomes obvious that the game has gotten worse the longer that they have played it. Ricky continues to encourage playing the twisted game,

“He felt for a moment as if he’d lose his Fruit Loops, but he managed to squeeze the trigger.” (Poole, 1) this example tells us that the main character is copying his brother who also shot him. This seems to be the tipping point for both of them because at first it was just little things like stabbing the doll, but it had grown to mutilation. After this act of Simon shooting Ricky, Ricky has a mental break and he tells Simon that he wants to be the detective this time. Simon can’t figure out why, so he just agrees. While Ricky would mutilate the doll, Simon has not grown to that level of crazy