Characters

The most important character in the short story “Tickits” by Paul Milenski is Toby Heckler. The other characters are episodic and secondary. For instance, the people Toby hands out tickets to are relevant for the social setting showing different attitudes to Toby’s actions. The patrolman and the mother are relevant for the way Toby relates to them and the difference between how they treat Toby and his mental health problems.

Toby Heckler

Toby Heckler is the main character in the short story and the focus of the narrator.

Outer characterization

His outer characterization is mostly conveyed indirectly; it is suggested but not explicitly stated.

We do not know Toby’s age, but we can assume he is a young adult or a teenager with a speech disorder (he never speaks in the story). He also seems to have some form of mental disability, as he has “childish-looking” (p. 1, l. 3) hand writing and makes a lot of spelling errors. The narrator presents Toby directly as wearing a “jacket” (p. 1, l. 4) and “sneakers spanking white from Baby's Liquid Shoe Polish” (p. 1, l. 5), suggesting that he polishes them in an obsessive way.

Finally, he lives with his mother in a “bungalow” (p. 1, l. 11), suggesting that the family may not have much money. As no father is mentioned, we can assume the man is either dead or the parents are separated.

Inner characterization

Toby’s inner characterization is also conveyed indirectly through his actions and his attitude. From the beginning, we find out that Toby, although not a police officer, hands out hand written tickets to people who break the rules: “On the yellow paper Toby had printed in red ink "PRAKING MISTEAK" and signed his name "TOBY"...” (p. 1, ll. 2-3)...

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