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Edgar
The classroom teacher and narrator of the story. Edgar recounts his class’s unfortunate experiences with death with a calm detachment. Because he cannot make sense of an irrational world filled with inexplicable deaths, Edgar has trouble answering his students’ questions and calming their fears.
Read an in-depth analysis of Edgar.
The Students
The classroom students. Throughout the school year, the students encounter the loss of class plants and pets, as well as the passing of parents, grandparents, and classmates. Initially, they approach these deaths with a sense of detachment, but as the story unfolds, they become increasingly apprehensive and fearful. They ask absurdly mature questions about the nature of death and request their teacher to make love to their teaching assistant.
Read an in-depth analysis of the students.
Helen
The class teaching assistant. She does not openly appear in the story until the children ask Edgar to make love to her so that they can see how it is done. At first, she stares out the window, and then, when Edgar argues that the value of life is everywhere around them, she embraces him.
Edgar the Puppy
A class pet. The Murdoch girl discovers Edgar beneath a delivery truck and brings him to school in her knapsack. The playful puppy brings happiness to the classroom until his sudden death, possibly due to distemper.
Kim
A Korean orphan. The students adopt Kim through a charity organization, Help the Children, and each student brings a quarter per month to send to Kim. When Kim dies, the organization sends a letter that does not explain his cause of death but instead suggests that they select a replacement orphan to adopt.
The Murdoch Girl
A girl in the class. She rescues the puppy, Edgar, from under a parked delivery truck and brings him to class.
Mathew Wein and Tony Mavrogordo
Boys in the class. They die in an accident while playing at a construction site. Blame for the accident has yet to be determined, although their parents claim that it was a matter of poorly stacked wooden beams.
Billy Brandt’s Father
A student’s parent. A masked intruder killed him with a knife during a home invasion.
