Self Discovery in Anansi Boys Anonymous 9th Grade

In West African culture, Anansi is a cunning god, who takes the shape of a spider. He is known to be a trickster and very deceitful. He is considered the god of all knowledge of stories. In other words, Anansi owns all stories. In Anansi Boys, the main character, Fat Charlie, learns a great deal about his backgrounds and who he really is. After his father’s passing, he learns that his humiliating dad was really the god, Anansi, and that he also has a brother. Charlie eventually meets his estranged brother, Spider, who torments and seems to ruin his life. He gets him fired from his job, steals his fiancé, and gets him arrested. However, at the end of the novel, we see that through all this torture, Spider has actually helped Charlie move forward with his life. In Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, the readers witness Charlie develop and discover more about himself emotionally through his brother, Spider, and other outside influences.

In the beginning of the novel, we learn that Charles Nancy has a strong hatred of his father and has good reasons for it. Mr. Nancy gave Charles the unfortunate nickname, Fat Charlie, and despite the fact that Charlie was only fat for a short amount of time, the name stayed with him because, “when his...