Voodoo by Fredric Brown Characters Analysis’
Voodoo by Fredric Brown Characters Analysis’
Mr. Decker projects himself as a sneaky little slinking weasel in my mind. He is a cautious, non-believing, irritating, reward seeking, neat freak. I could tell he was a skeptic because of his constant use of negative words and exclamation points– “Ridiculous!” “Rot!” “Rubbish!” and “Nonsense!” As an afterthought I began thinking of how he was so reward seeking or reward oriented, you can see evidence of that when he manipulated Mrs. Decker to find the information he wanted, and to eventually resolve his problem. You can see plainly he was a neat freak when he thought at the end, ‘Besides, it had always irritated him that his wife so seldom cleaned her hairbrush.’ I see both parties contributing to the conflict but I think mainly it is Mr. Decker. In a way he is being very unfair when it comes to settling the money and property as she says, “Half, I’ll not settle for anything less than half the money plus half the property.” And he merely answers, “Ridiculous!” He acts in a very manipulative manner - when he lets her talk he only does so to gain information - and in fact goes as far as using Mrs. Decker’s words against her. For example, by keeping himself so reserved and taciturn it aggravates her even more and makes her challenge him with all her knowledge, when he says, “Rot!” She answers, “It isn’t. And you should be glad that I’m a good woman for I could kill you quite easily if I wished. I would then have all the money and all the real estate, and without any fear of the consequences. A death accomplished by voodoo cannot be distinguished from death by heart failure.”
I recognize Mr. Decker as the antagonist for he is pitted against his wife’s struggle to get half of everything and continually aggravates her and leads her on. I perceive Mrs. Decker as the protagonist because of her almost center stage quality as she says more than twice as many lines as Mr. Decker, she is the first and last character
Mr. Decker projects himself as a sneaky little slinking weasel in my mind. He is a cautious, non-believing, irritating, reward seeking, neat freak. I could tell he was a skeptic because of his constant use of negative words and exclamation points– “Ridiculous!” “Rot!” “Rubbish!” and “Nonsense!” As an afterthought I began thinking of how he was so reward seeking or reward oriented, you can see evidence of that when he manipulated Mrs. Decker to find the information he wanted, and to eventually resolve his problem. You can see plainly he was a neat freak when he thought at the end, ‘Besides, it had always irritated him that his wife so seldom cleaned her hairbrush.’ I see both parties contributing to the conflict but I think mainly it is Mr. Decker. In a way he is being very unfair when it comes to settling the money and property as she says, “Half, I’ll not settle for anything less than half the money plus half the property.” And he merely answers, “Ridiculous!” He acts in a very manipulative manner - when he lets her talk he only does so to gain information - and in fact goes as far as using Mrs. Decker’s words against her. For example, by keeping himself so reserved and taciturn it aggravates her even more and makes her challenge him with all her knowledge, when he says, “Rot!” She answers, “It isn’t. And you should be glad that I’m a good woman for I could kill you quite easily if I wished. I would then have all the money and all the real estate, and without any fear of the consequences. A death accomplished by voodoo cannot be distinguished from death by heart failure.”
I recognize Mr. Decker as the antagonist for he is pitted against his wife’s struggle to get half of everything and continually aggravates her and leads her on. I perceive Mrs. Decker as the protagonist because of her almost center stage quality as she says more than twice as many lines as Mr. Decker, she is the first and last character