Character Analysis "Honor"

Character Analysis "Honor" The title of this sad story written by Betty Dahlin is "Honor". It is called "Honor" because a woman honors a man that stole form her. In addition, the thief has honor because he was too proud to take American money to bury his son.

This story starts out at a hotel in Quito, Ecuador, where a poor hotel servant uses whatever money he can get to put food on the table for his family. The servant steals money from a guest in order to give his son a proper burial. The guests tell the hotel manager about the thief. As a result, he fears that he will lose his customers.

The woman presses charges against the thief. Then after seeing the thief at the market using the stolen money to buy a coffin for his son, she decides to drop the charges. For example, she says, "Can I pay for the young man's fine or give him the money to return and thus erase the crime?" When the thief finds out that the charges are going to be dropped, he says, "I do not need the American senora to bury my child. If I pay for his funeral by spending six months in prison, that is my choice. I am the father. If the senora cannot understand this, it is not my concern." In other words, the thief will pay for his son's death by going to jail before having an American woman paying for his son's death. The thief learns that he should have earned the money to buy his son's coffin by himself. Earning money honestly by working hard would have been a better choice than spending time in prison.

The ending to this story is sad because all the thief wanted was a proper burial for his son, and he could not afford it. The thief is a realistic character because he has human characteristics and qualities. For instance, he is not perfect. He makes choices based on his experiences and feelings. His choices in this story were wrong, and he learns from his mistakes.