Skellig Characterisation Review
By Mia C
In the novel Skellig the author, David Almond, has made the
main characters of the book very out of the ordinary, especially the four main
characters; Michael, Skellig, Mina and Michaels baby sister with no name. This
text will explain to you the characterization of each character.
Michael:
Michael is your typical boy and more. He is curious, a bit
arrogant, sporty, and has lots of friends. Michael is also very good soccer
player. Yes, it’s a bit out of the ordinary but what boy has not played soccer?
What’s different about Michael is that he is concerns for his sick baby sister.
Yes, lots of 13-year-old boys would probably care if they had a sick baby
sister, but not like the concern Michael has for her. Michael acts like a
mother toward her. He put his hand under her shirt to feel her skin and her
heart beat with his. He also makes a female friend that he spends most of his
time with named Mina, this is another thing that is not normal for a boy to do.
David Almond has made Michael so well and delicately that there is probably
another side to Michael, we just may not know it yet. David Almond has made him
very well by fitting him in to the story society and making him more than just
a young arrogant boy.
Skellig:
Skellig is not your typical angel, a typical angel in my
eyes would be bright, in heaven and a savior to people on earth. For Skellig
though, that is not the case. He is a dark run down room not wanting to help
anyone and needs a savior to save him more than he can save someone else.
Skellig starts out mean and rude to Michael, not wanting is salvation but
quickly grows fond of him. Skellig acts more human than angel at the start and
turns more into an angel as the book goes. We know all of this because Michael
finds him in a garage that is about to break, in this the garage Skellig is in
the corner, Dirty and run down. The reader will only know the fact that Skellig
is an angel by the wings on his back and the spells that he shows Mina and
Michael. Skellig is defiantly not your typical angel, he differs and that is
what makes him special.
Mina:
Mina is different to your stereotype girl. A Stereotypical girl
would have lots of friends and wants lots of attention. This is nothing like
Mina. Mina is a nice and intelligent girl that believes in all types of crazy
things. This is showed in the book by what Mina reads and does, For Example, in
the book I says that Mina reads thing from a poet. Mina is also home-schooled
making the reader think that she is a strange girl. The David Almond has made the reader think she
is a strange person, as the book progresses Mina becomes open minded and nice.
In my personal view, I think this is what David Almond had planned when he
introduced Mina into the story.
Michaels Baby sister (Joy):
Joy, Michaels baby sister only got her name by the end of
the book, and by the end of the book is when I only found out the book was
about this character. It was only coming from Michaels view. Joy is defiantly
not your typical baby girl. When she was born she was born very ill and always
has go back to the hospital. There’s this time during the book when she is at
the new house but for the rest of the story, she is at the hospital. Joy is
very out of the ordinary baby but she is a very lovable character.
In the novel Skellig, David Almond has managed to make the
characters out of the ordinary to fit into the ordinary. He has done this in a
very intelligent way and with his knowledge of a book's setting he has managed
to make a very well written book that many kids and teenagers find interesting.
