Guide Mentor

Character Role Analysis

Everybody in the story besides Jean

If we look at Jean's story as a spiritual journey, everyone he encounters looks suspiciously like a guide or mentor, perhaps putting him through a test. Was the bus-driver at the beginning of the story testing him? Did he pass? Did Jean learn anything from the bus driver? The Man With No nose definitely seems like a guide of some kind. For all the news on him, check out "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory." The lady in the window is a similar figure. She shows Jean that the orthopedic appliances represent a certain reality of human life that has its own special kind of beauty.