Stone Cold Persuasive

Task: Choose two main characters from the novel and show how the author creates different personalities for each one. Express a personal reaction to each one.

I have recently read a book called ‘Stone Cold’. The purpose of my essay is to show how the author creates different personalities for the two main characters in the book. One of the main characters is Link. He was a 14-year-old boy living with his mother and because of home difficulties with his mother meeting a man he leaves and becomes homeless. I did not think Link had the best excuse for leaving home and living on the streets because he thought his Mothers new boyfriend would come looking for him, “In case good old Vince took it into his head to come looking for me.” At the very start of the book I new he must have been a very sensitive person because he left home. Link ended up sleeping on the streets of London and this was when I started to pick up how the author creates Links personality.

I think Link is a bit naive when he spends half his money on a rented room. This showed that he was new to becoming homeless and did not have a clue about what to do with his money. He must have also been very desperate for somewhere to sleep. Link can also be clever in the way that he finds places to stay. “I found a doorway, a good deep one”. Link is also very kind. “We’ll look out for your daughter, and if we see her we’ll say we saw you”. The author creates Links character by what Link says such as, “No, not hungry”. This was not completely true as he was trying to be kind to his new friend Ginger. Link has to face terrible difficulties by trying to avoid starvation, seeking spare change, finding shelter from the cold showery nights and avoiding the occasional ‘weirdo’.

The other main character is Shelter. Shelter used to be in charge of an army and he put his army tactics to terrible use. I think Shelter thought that getting back at the government for pushing him aside would be occupying for him. But he is an evil person with a twisted mind. We know this from what he writes in his diary. Shelter writes about killing people and having evil thoughts. He kills Links friend Ginger, “there is always tomorrow unless you’re Ginger.” This is a sick joke and shows he does not care about his victims. The author creates his character well. Shelter thinks that his job is killing people and it is intelligent and brilliant. He calls Link the other scruff. He also gives Link and Ginger code names, “Laughing boy”. He also called Ginger, “Idle useless pratt”. He is a convincing actor. He has a cat and a do-gooder rig to convince people that he is not a bad person. When Ginger lost Link, Shelter acted as though he had helped Link in taking him into his house. Shelter arranges the blankets to show there is something underneath there that is bleeding. Shelter hates homeless people and thinks they should be better off dead. In addition, those who help homeless people he detests them too. Shelters personality is uncaring and unsympathetic.

Link and Shelters personalities are totally the opposite. I loved Links character and the way to author created his background and how he feels, I understood his character the most and what he was going through and why he left home, and am sympathetic towards him living on the streets. On the other hand, Shelter was a unrealistic character to me as he had unreal thoughts that no normal person would think and the author created both of the characters with great thought and to me the book was very successful.