Douglas Spaulding

In “The Highest Branch on the Tree” by Ray Bradbury, Douglas Spaulding's outer characterization reveals that he is a 54-year-old writer and that he has a family (he is probably married with children): “Fair life as a writer, nicely established, no international fame but a few fans across the country and enough income to raise a family.” (ll. 131-132)

Inner characterization

The narrator’s inner characterization is presented at different ages. The first part of the story reveals the narrator’s traits as a teenager. From the narrator’s own confessions, we find out that he was the lead bully who picked on his classmate Harry Hands: “… see Harry in full flight and us ninth graders after him, myself in the lead…” (ll. 10-11)

Douglas and his classmates would pick on Harry by calling him names – “We all spelled it ‘Hairy’ ” (l. 3) — by hanging his pants up the school tree, or by refusing to make friends with him. However, when Harry peed on the narrator and the others from the tree, they became “indignant teenagers” (l. 24), angry because of how the boy humiliated them.

After the episode, Harry never returned to school. The narrator and the others began to think that “maybe” they should “apologize” (l. 40) and they feel guilty...