Marcus Sedgwick's She Is Not Invisible

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Memory is inconstant and has large gaps; the important moments always seem to be the ones that people remember. Yet there is no distinguishing characteristic of an important moment other than the way it affected someone’s life. The same is true for important characters, like Michael Walker in the book She Is Not Invisible written by Marcus Sedgwick. Michael Walker is a supporting character, who encounters the Peak children for less than two hours in total over the course of the book; yet is incredibly pivotal for plot advancement. Mr. Michael Walker serves as an instigator for the plot, a vehicle to reinforce the theme, and as a powerful point of discussion about issues outside of She Is Not Invisible. She Is Not Invisible takes place over a few…show more content…
The main character, Laureth, overcomes disability and disadvantage to achieve great things with the people she loves. Michael Walker does the same, and though he lacks a physical disability, his age, race, and personality set him apart from his peers. When Laureth first meets Mr. Walker in person, “I [Laureth] didn't know what to say. He might have been twelve but he certainly spoke like an adult. An adult from 1872 to be precise” (Sedgwick, 94). Michael is known to hang around the library, and maybe has the same introversions as Benjamin, a fellow bookworm. Michael also is a victim of a counter-trope wherein black characters do not fall into common stereotypes, and yet can still be an object of discrimination. An example is when “‘Michael here said you [the Smoke] was rude to him. He said you don’t like our kind. Is that right?’ ‘No, no’, said the the Smoke, and now he was scared” (Sedgwick, 188). This quote is from when Michael Walker got his brother and friends to help Laureth and Ben from danger. For a supporting character, this is incredibly important. In the next passage, Laureth finds

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