Character Analysis: Charlie Wales

Charlie Wales
Charlie Wales, who is known to be a man of many mistakes, is attempting to fix his past in order to regain the custody of his daughter, Honoria and start a new life as a reformed man. In order to do so, Charlie must prove to his sister in law Marion that he is a changed man. She seems to have a sheer hatred for Charlie, seeing as she's his wife's sister and is very well aware of all the things that had happened between the couple, making his wishes to gain custody of Honoria difficult. The recollections of the past seem to be haunting Charlie no matter where he goes.

Back in the "good old days" Charlie was just a rich man who had no need to work, which then soon resulted into he and his wife Helen drinking to the point of alcoholism. Shortly after the two took a turn for the worst, Helen died from heart troubles and Marion still swears Charlie's the true cause. She could never let him live that down, Marion would always manage to bring it up in conversation somehow. Not too long after Helen's death, Charlie was soon to experience the natural progression of severe alcoholism, financial woes, depression, and soon the loneliness slowly started to set in. Once you've fallen so far down sometimes the only way back is up and soon Charlie came to that realization for himself. From that point forward, he knew what he had to do in order to get his life on track
and reclaim the key piece to his happiness, his daughter.

In order to tackle one of the biggest obstacles in his life, Charlie knew that he must learn to control the drinking before anything was going to change.
He was then able to limit himself to one drink per day, which he sticks to faithfully even when he lost his chances of getting his daughter back. That type of dedication shows that Charlie is truly devoted to becoming a better person. Clearly, he is disgusted by who he used to be, so taking a step forward and actually making a positive change in his life is major, most addicts wouldn't be able to do more than talking about
quitting

Refusing to go out and party with his old drinking buddies, Lorraine and Duncan, Charlie reflects back on the night he and Lorraine stole the tricycle and went joy riding through town till the wee hours of daylight. Through his sober eyes, the disastrous little fling, if it could even be called that, had became much more surreal and Lorraine had appeared to be much more attractive back in the days of his drunken adventures. Sitting back thinking about times such as that makes Charlie realize that the price of seeing his daughter's face when he wakes up in the morning is much greater than the desire to be drunk and careless, waking up to some sloppy, drunken woman from the remains of the night before.

Despite total distrust from his family in the ultimate weak point of Charlie’s life, he strove to make amends and to try to be the father he had always dreamed of being. Although he couldn't convince anyone else he was truly a reformed man, his priorities remained intact and he continued to see through his desire to reunite with his daughter even if it meant on other people's terms and conditions. With the mind set of showing genuine motives, he’s willing to stick it out however long it takes, doing whatever it costs.

Charlie has made many positive changes in his life since he lived the so-called life of sin, but it still remains a constant battle for him to keep pushing forward on a day to day basis. He still struggles to do the one obstacle that he thinks will keep him in “check” which is one drink a day, but Charlie sticks to his word throughout the story and doesn't have more then his one. There are a lot of memories that he will never live down, nor will the people around him let him forget, but he still seems to continue on and proves the point that what really matters is what he, himself can prove to no one but himself . The way he goes about getting back what he had lost is through honor, integrity, and self perseverance.