Infographic: The Relationships Between the Main Characters of Evicted by Matthew Desmond
https://coggle.it/diagram/Wo7pJxzm6QAB-6RR/t/sherrena-tarver-landlord/cd6182c47af0d3405b333e37504c4870452d08a964b14cd9ae17be274411d321
This infographic is a map of most of the major characters in the
book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American
City by Matthew Desmond. As mentioned in my first microblog, I often found
myself confused while reading this book. There are
too many character to keep up with, each
with their own unique relationships and stories. Just by looking at the map, it
is easy to see my dilemma. These are just the most prominent figures and their
families. I should probably explain the relationships, seeing how easy it is to
be lost without them. The turquoise arms connect landlord and tenant. Sherrena
and Quentin Tarver are the landlords of the story, and Tobin Charey owns a trailer park. The green lines
connect co-workers or characters who meet and interact through work. The purple
lines represent a parent-child relationship. Poorer families tend to have more
children. This was certainly the case in the book. I attempted to keep track of
the various fathers, but those who were no longer with the mothers are barely
mentioned, forcing me to call them “unnamed” and give what little information I
can find on them. In other cases, when there is no information to be found, I
simply list the child and the parent they are reported to live with, leaving
the other parent off of the chart. The pink/light red lines are
boyfriends/girlfriends. They can be current or former partners. In the case of
Lamar Richards and the mother of his children, her relationship with Lamar is
not touched upon. She is only referred to as “Luke and Eddy’s mother” and is
said to have left due to her addiction (Desmond 26). Orange lines mark familial
relationships. The color is not specific to any relationship and the bond is
specified in the description. The deep blue lines are marriages. Like the other
romantic bond, it can be a current or a former marriage. There are very few of
these on the map, so I am a little surprised that I gave this relationship its
own color. Finally, the yellow lines signify roommates who are not related. These
only came up on one occasion, but I felt it was important to Lamar’s character.
It gives insight on his kind and caring personality. I tried to give facts
about the personality of the characters in the descriptions. I also tried to put
more thought into the relationships that just how they were connected. There’s
always more to a family than the blood. Compare the Hinkinstons to Arleen’s
family. The Hinkinstons are loud, lively, and are all about making the best of
what they have. They care about each other, even when they prank each other. Arleen
loves her family too. While she also tries to make the best of her situation, she
only interacts with two of her children in the book: Jori and Jafaris. Her other
children are briefly mentioned, and two of them are not even named. She is
shown to be a caring mother, but has nowhere near the amount of life in her that
the mothers in the Hinkinston family have. She has seen too much loss. These families
are all large, but they are all so different. I think that was one of my
greatest problems with this book: keeping track of what family had what
dynamic. I really wish I had had this map while I was reading.
1 comments
Your character map is really impressive, especially considering the sheer number of characters your book has (and to think I thought my book had a lot of characters!). It's clear you put a great deal of time and thought into it. Most relationships are more nuanced than what they appear to be on the surface, so I appreciate that your character map goes beyond merely showing how characters are related to one another. (After all, as you say, "There's more to family than blood.")
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about the personalities of the two landlords, Sherrena and Quentin Tarver, as well as their relationships with their tenants. Are they rarely mentioned in the book (like the various unnamed fathers) or is there another reason why you didn't include any personal tidbits about them?