Characters

The most important characters in the short story “Eel” by Stefanie Seddon are Archie and his brothers Ted, Arthur, and Pat. Other characters are briefly mentioned: the boys’ mother and father and the girls, who are presumably the boys’ sisters.

“Eel” is narrated by Archie. He uses the first-person point of view to describe a fishing trip that he went on with his brothers when he was a child. Note that the narrator may be telling this story as an adult who recalls this event from his childhood. Archie is a developing character, as he changes by the end of the story.

Ted is a secondary character. He is the oldest brother of Archie and the twins Pat and Arthur – this is suggested by the fact that the boys’ mother tasks him with looking after Archie (l. 6). Ted is probably an adolescent or young adult, old enough to be independent and leave home to participate in the spring sheep shearing in the town of Hokitika (l. 11).

Pat and Arthur are two other secondary characters in “Eel”. They appear briefly throughout the story, but the narrator does not put much emphasis on their characterization. Just like Ted, they are not developing characters.

You can read their full characterisation in the next pages.