Outside Reading post #1

Who are the main characters of your book? Describe their personality and what seems to motivate them.

In the novel Until They Bring the Streetcars Back, by Stanley Gordon West, the main character Cal Grant is a typical teenager living in the late 1940's. Attending high school in our very own Minneapolis/St. Paul area, Cal finds himself in detention for joining in on a prank against one of his teachers and talking in class, making him miss his football game (West 4). Because of this Cal becomes incredibly and irrationally outraged against the girl who he was talking with and declares that it was all her fault. He proceeds to avoid her at all costs by ducking into the most nearby rooms around school when she gets close, and one time almost entering a girls' bathroom (West 28). I believe that his adolescent mind and hatred for the girl is causing him to act so unreasonably. We do see a kind side to Cal as he nurtures a rabbit back to a healthy state in his closet after being tormented by some wild fifth graders (West 11). Although being occasionally unreasonable Cal is a kind person.

The other character is Gretchen Lutterman, the girl who spoke with Cal and got them both into trouble. We see that she is an odd ball when she starts muttering to herself, "My father will hurt me. He'll whip me r-e-a-l bad" (West 6) after being caught talking with Cal. We also see that she is a strange person when she does bizarre things like staring at Cal when his back is turned (West 30). Her motivation as a person has been driven by her strange life. Her father beats her, she wears strange clothes, and she has no friends. Gretchen is an odd character who is motivated by her odd surroundings.