53 pages • 1 hour read
Shana BurgA Thousand Never Evers
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Addie Ann Pickett
Twelve-year-old Addie Ann is the protagonist of A Thousand Never Evers. She is intelligent, with a passion for geography and a desire to become a “television geography teacher” (19). She has just graduated from elementary school at the start of the text and is excited yet nervous about the idea of going to middle school in the fall. Although her father died before she was born, she has a good idea of who he was through stories told by Mama and her brother, Elias, and learns in the novel that he was killed for his resistance to injustice. She is raised in his place by her father’s brother, Uncle Bump.
At the start of the text, Addie Ann’s immaturity is clear; however, throughout the text, she grows, eventually recognizing the importance of standing with her community against prejudice. She often identifies prejudice in her life but does so initially in a matter-of-fact way, with thoughts that that is just how things are and with little idea that they can be changed. For example, as she crosses the tracks to where the white people live in town, she notes how “everything seems white and bright [with] fresh-painted shingles and white picket fences glean in the late-afternoon sun” (3). However, as the novel progresses, she grows angry at these injustices and realizes that she has a responsibility to help things change. After she directly faces racist violence when Elias is almost killed and chased from town, her home is burned down, and Uncle Bump is imprisoned, she realizes that racism directly affects her life. Her teacher, Mrs. Jacks, explains her situation in life when she tells her students, “[Y]a’ll got one foot stuck in childhood, the other stuck in growing up. One hand plucking sun from the daylight, the other picking moon from night. That’s why I call y’all Midnights. And the thing is, you Midnights are losing your balance” (124).
Throughout the text, Addie Ann “loses her balances” as she is knocked down by injustice, but she ultimately matures and changes, choosing to stand up for Uncle Bump and rally the community behind him. In the end, she recognizes, “[E]ven though I’m twelve, I reckon I just cut my baby teeth. I grew up more in the last four months than in the four years before that. I’d call it something of an inside growth spurt” (267). As a bildungsroman, the novel explores that growth and development, showing Addie Ann’s maturity in her role in the community. Ultimately, she finds her voice to speak out against injustice and defend Uncle Bump, earning him his freedom and bringing a start to change in Kuckachoo.
Elias Pickett
Elias is Addie Ann’s older brother. At the start of the novel, he is 17 years old and about to be a senior at Thunder Creek County School. He has plans to go to college and is seen as smart and hardworking by his family and the community. Since the age of five, he has worked for Mr. Mudge in his field and store in an effort to support his family after his father’s death. He feels passionate about the civil rights movement, often “preaching” to Addie Ann about why it is important and attending meetings to keep track of what is happening throughout the South. As Mrs. Jacks describes him, “He was going places. College was just the start. He was going to join the movement, wake up this world. He was quite a speaker. Quite a leader” (125). Although his dreams of graduating high school and going to college are put on hold after he hurts a white child in defense of Addie Ann, he continues to support his family through his work in the civil rights movement. He is responsible for hiring a lawyer for Uncle Bump and works with her in building a defense for him.
Elias’s strength and knowledge are a key factor in Addie Ann’s growth. Even after her brother leaves, she continues to think of him and even hears his voice in her mind. First, as she contemplates entering the garden to stand up for the Black community, she thinks of him and hears him telling her to enter the garden. Then, as she considers what to do as her house burns down, she imagines that he tells her to “follow [him]” back into the street (180), where she rallies the community to go to the courthouse to defend Uncle Bump. Whether these moments occur in Addie Ann’s imagination or he is actually directing her actions, what is important is that he plays a key role in motivating her to grow, mature, and help her community.
“Mama” Pickett
Mama is the mother to Elias and Addie Ann in the novel. She is hardworking and dedicated to her children, having raised them since childhood after her husband died. She stresses the importance of education to them and demands that they go to school so that they will have a better opportunity in life than she did since she was raised on a plantation and left school at a young age to work and make money for her family.
Often, Mama attempts to prevent Addie Ann from getting involved in the disputes of the community. As a result, she hinders Addie Ann’s growth and development but does so out of love and protection. As Uncle Bump explains it, she believes that Addie Ann is “her baby” and too young to deal with issues of prejudice. She hides the truth about Addie Ann’s father’s death, telling her that he died of pneumonia in an effort to keep the difficult realities of the world hidden from Addie Ann and to protect her. Even though her actions are out of love, it is also reflective of her desire to hide from the difficulties of racism. When Elias goes missing, for example, she spends several days in bed grieving, lamenting the fact that nothing can be done for him. Additionally, after their home burns down, she is sedated by Elmira because she cannot handle the reality of what has happened to them. These aspects of Mama’s character add another layer to the theme of Finding One’s Voice in the Fight Against Prejudice. Mama’s role is not one of outward resistance against prejudice; instead, she is a hardworking, supportive woman who raises her children and does her best to survive in the world as it is. Although there is nothing wrong with her approach, as she does her best to protect her family, it serves as a direct contrast to the people like Reverend Walker, Medgar Evers, Elias, and, ultimately, Addie Ann, who see now as the time to stand up directly against prejudice and bring change.
Sam Mudge
Sam Mudge, or Mr. Mudge, is the antagonist of the text. He is the owner of the town’s only store. After the death of Old Man Adams at the start of the novel, he also becomes the wealthiest man in town, with a large garden and the income from his store. He has employed Elias since the age of five to work in his field and also gives Uncle Bump and Addie Ann jobs planting the garden after Elias goes missing. After Elias flees town, it is revealed that Mr. Mudge hid him throughout the novel, providing him with a job in his new store.
Mr. Mudge is a complex character in the text because he is one of the few characters whose anger and bad deeds do not seem to be motivated by racism. When it is revealed that he is the one who destroyed the garden, it is surmised that he did so to prevent the community from having their own crops, thus forcing them to continue to come to his store. Although he frames Uncle Bump in the process and does not care if he is convicted, it has little to do with Uncle Bump’s skin color; rather, it has everything to do with Mr. Mudge’s wealth and greed. As the antagonist of the text, he causes Addie Ann, the protagonist, to make her major internal change. By sabotaging the garden and allowing Uncle Bump to take the blame, he forces Addie Ann to come forward and stand up for Uncle Bump at the trial. Because of his actions against her family, he causes Addie Ann to grow, mature, and find her voice against prejudice.
