Sample Character Analysis Essay

Character Analysis Essay

 

                Matt Kaizer, the main character in Avi’s short story “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer,” goes through a profound change after listening to the confessions of a dying man.  Matt goes from being a person who depended on his friends to create his identity of a “bad” kid, to someone who realizes people have to decide for themselves who they want to be.  The story is narrated by Marley, a friend of Matt’s, who tells how Matt went from “bad” to “good”.

            In the beginning of the story, Matt is constantly trying to prove he is “bad” to his friends.  They force him to do stunts they think are horrible, such as picking up dead animals in the road, telling disgusting stories, watching blood and gore movies, and acting out in class.  Matt’s friends clearly pressure him, using the fact that his father is a minister to force him into carrying out their ideas.  They taunt him: “…you’re too chicken, being as you’re a minister’s kid and all” (38).  Avi hints that Matt doesn’t want to be bad, but that he does it to fit in with his friends by including phrases that imply peer pressure is happening.  For example, “who wanted to show he wasn’t good” (34) and “No way was he going to be good! Not in front of us” (35) both imply that Matt is behaving a certain way because his friends expect him to.

            A terrible dare that Matt decides to take begins his journey to change.  Matt decides to visit Mary Beth Bataky, who is the “class slug” (35) and target of many of Matt’s dares, to get a glimpse of her dying father.  “It’ll be neat.  Like a horror movie.  Maybe I can even touch the guy.  A dying body is supposed to be colder than ice.” (39).  But when Matt actually gets into the Mary Beth’s house and sees Mr. Bataky, the unexpected happens:  Mr. Bataky wakes up from his near-death and delirious state and grabs Matt’s arm.  He believes Matt is an angel who has come to save him from the sins of his awful life of drinking and abuse.  “An angel . . . from heaven has come to save me”(46).  Matt’s decision to grant Mr. Bataky’s wish to visit him again and allow him to confess his sins is a very significant event in his development.

            The more Matt visits Mr. Bataky, the more he changes.  Matt, who once shared every disgusting story he could with his friends, won’t share the secrets Mr. Bataky confesses to him.  He tells his friends: “Angels can’t tell secrets” (52), which is the first hint that Matt is beginning to believe in his own goodness.  Matt begins to dress differently, and like an angel.  Marley notices “he was dressed all in white:  white shirt, pale tie, white pants, and even white sneakers.  Not one smudge on him. . . Nothing missing but wings” (54).  Against all medical odds, Mr. Bataky defies death and becomes healthy again, and this is the turning point in Matt’s development over the course of the story.  Matt admits that he realizes he’s really not a bad person.  “The more I heard that stuff Mr. Bataky did, the more I knew that deep down, inside, I’m just a good kid . . . I’m good” (55).  The story ends with the “gang” no longer hanging out.  Without Matt to pressure, Marley says, “our gang couldn’t hold together” (54).

            Avi creates a character who realizes how powerful peer pressure can be.  Matt Kaizer began as a boy who struggled to decide to believe his friends that he was “bad” or his father who believed he was “good.”  It took the confessions of a dying man who had lived an awful life for Matt to realize what it means to be true to yourself.