Yuanxin Wang
Mr.B.Morrison
ESL CO1­a
May 11 2015
Charlie Shepards Charlie Shepards is the main character who is sixteen years old in the novel, That
Was Then,This Is Now. This essay could show a deeper insight of Bryon about how he changes in the novel. First of all, Bryon is considerate. In Bryon’s bedroom, he tells himself that: “M&M was in the hospital, and maybe he was messed up for life­and Mark was selling the stuff that made him that way.” (Hinton 146) Even though it is his best friend Mark who makes M&M lost, he still takes M&M’s issue into account and recognizes that Mark does all this wrong without any prejudice. Furthermore, Bryon is rational and loves his friend. In Bryon’s soliloquy, he tells that: “It did not much matter to me whether or not mark was a thief, but I still felt that stealing was wrong.” (Hinton 25­26) He understands that his friend was young and that is why he stole, but he cannot forgive himself for stealing because of his own conscience. In addition, he is modest. Bryon talks about Charlie like that: “Besides, he’d had it even rougher than me when he was a kid, and now he had his own business and was respected

by the cops and the rough guys equally.” (Hinton 44) He listens to Charlie all the time and he learns to undertake responsibilities as a man after Charlie’s death. Besides,he is fake. After knowing that Ponyboy is calling Cathy to ask her out, he acts like that: “No kidding. I said, while thinking, I’ll murder that guy. What’s you tell him?” (Hinton
78) He acts different inner and outer. He shows that he does not care but inside of his heart, he is full with jealousy and madness. However, he is also a hustler. He feels that: “I was the hustler and Mark was the thief.”
When Bryon’s mother does the big operation and it costs lots of money, Mark gives him money and Bryon knows that he steals it, but he receives the money and does not stop him doing that. His