Between Heaven and Earth (part 5, the characters)

            The characters in Between Heaven and Earth are very important, major or not because they all help create the plot. The whole story surrounds DJ so he has to be the main character. The characters change throughout the story, including the minor characters. DJ is a guy who is very stubborn and believes that rushing stuff makes everything better. But those weaknesses are put to the test when DJ climbs Mount Kilimanjaro. There is no room for stubbornness and you must go polepole (slowly) to defeat the mountain. DJ is an athlete who believes he can reach the top with his strength but he learns that he must use a lot of his willpower and bravery to defeat the mountain. The next character I want to talk about is Sarah. Sarah is native to the land of the mountain, but no woman has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. When she joins DJ, she becomes the first native woman to ever climb the mountain. Sarah becomes a porter, a person who carries stuff for the climbers. Only 15 years old, she is required to carry the most stuff out of her group. Sarah is determined to win in a world where people are sexually biased. Sarah's determination is an important factor in the story because DJ actually learns a lot from her and her determination empowers DJ on his mission.

            Another character is Doris. Doris is an old lady who wants to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Doris shows a lot of courage when she faces the mountain. She is looked upon as a frail lady by the rest of the group, but later, when she shows no sign of struggle, DJ then thinks of Doris as a strong lady who faces impossibly large enemies and still has faith in their defeat. Her courage empowers DJ to go on further in his journey. The other characters are minor, but the Finnish trio are the victims of the mountain, while the guide, Elijah guides the characters and gives them important advice. The background hikers could be interpreted as DJ's "obstacles." There is really no protagonists or antagonists in this book, but I suppose the group could be protagonists and the mountain is the book's antagonist. The author did not use a lot of characters and so there were more main characters than minor ones. I would advise the author to add more characters so that the number of major characters is smaller than that of the minor characters.