James

Astrid, the narrator and protagonist of White Oleander, at this point in the story is a twelve-year old girl who speaks in a very mature adult-likeway, likely because the story is told in the past tense, probably from the narrator’s adult point of view. Her descriptions are extremely detailedand poetic. She uses symbolism heavily and is an excellent narrator. Her account of the story seems to be very accurate, especially since it is spokenwith hindsight. She has very little dialogue so far but will probably develop as the story continues into likely the present. Astrid can be comparedto Cash in the final pages of As I Lay Dying, when he is speaking in the past tense with a cool head and a clear point of view.

Ingrid, thesingle-mother of Astrid is a very volatile character. She falls into a passionate love with a man named Barry and begins to break all the rules she had inplace to prevent herself from being hurt. When Barry breaks her heart she is completely broken and centers her life on destroying his. She begins tofollow him, and even breaks into his house, destroying almost everything of value to him.

Barry is a stocky pony-tailed man with lots of power andmoney in Hollywood. He is also a womanizer and plays the nice guy for a while before moving on to his next victim. He is in a dangerous positionhaving broken Ingrid’s heart, and also a man with a very short temper. It is easy to see that things for him could go down hill very quickly for him.