Rin Hoshigumo asked U.L. Harper:

What feelings do you have towards Arthur Lowe? I ask because I find him oddly masked. I don't particularly like or dislike him. Doesn't matter what he did. My feelings toward him are pretty neutral. I had no clear picture of what he looked like, just an impression. Didn't really se his face. But at the very end, I pictured him looking just like you. Just at that point, not for the rest of the book.

U.L. Harper This is interesting. In a second I'll explain why. In the novel, he's described as a black kid with an afro. Later, school employees don't believe his mother is his mother because they look so different, because she's white. But his facial characteristics have little to do with his qualities. We know he feels powerless and different. We know that the more confident he gets the worse thing are for those around him. We know he's full of negative energy. We know he has a different connection to the world, and he's only been with one woman. He's orphaned, largely, and creates the sand deer to fit in with his family, essentially. He doesn't connect to his world. His acknowledges Arthur being left behind because he wanted Ms kimbrel. Arthur is the proverbial black kid abandoned by his father who was chasing skirts and his community feels the results. And Arthur IS based on myself. But so is Raheem and Glenda. But his adoptive father takes on characteristics of my father. But I generally don't write about faces, because I don't like reading about faces unless they're fantastical. Nobody, in my opinion, has an interesting or special face.

flag