Stone Cold Essay

A character study of cheer from Stone cold. Show how our view of the character changes throughout the novel. Shelter is one of the two first-person narrators in Robert Swindells Stone cold. In the novel Swindells follows the runaway teenager, Link, from his home in Bradford to the mean streets of London where his path crosses that of Shelter, an ex-soldier who creates his own army while also cleanup up the streets of the roofless multitude he despises. In this essay I will show how the character is portrayed and how our view of him changes throughout the novel.In daily chip orders 3 Swindells choice of language makes Shelter sound very negative and hateful in the way he talks well-nigh homeless people. Swindells also uses army terms such as Tour of inspection and it tells us that Shelter must be an ex-soldier and must still believe he is one. This gives us the impression that theres something not quite just right about Shelter. In daily routine orders 4 Shelter goes on to explai n how the secret of victory in any campaign is planning and preparation. He describes his planning as being Meticulous and my preparations argon nowadays unadulterated.One of the things he has acquired has helped him to complete and that is a cat. He talks of the cat as his distraction to who he re every(prenominal)y is. A valet who keeps a cat tin cant possible mean any harm, can he? He also named the cat Sappho which will project an image of a kind man who cares. Theres not yet any indication of violent intentions but there is a suspicion of something untoward. Daily routine orders 5 & 6 enters into Shelters concept pf his mission and we learn about his abnormal thought and views on murder.He believes that killing the homeless people on the streets is his job, his duty to his country. He creates a pleasant and warm atmosphere among the victims to make them feel safe and willing to do whatever he says for shelter and viands and drink. He knock down for it, hook, line and sin ker. Shelter tricked person therefore planning it and not feeling regret for it. He uses the words do-gooder which simply means someone who does good things. He uses these words throughout the novel to mock people who actually are do-gooders. Further on in the novel Shelter describes the people he has killed as waste.This tells us he couldnt care less about how those people who were humans just like him. He tempts them with food and warmth and when they train their backs turned he strikes. We start off thinking that there is something not quite right about Shelter and the further we take on through the novel the clearer it becomes that Shelter is completely insane. In daily routine orders 12 & 13 Shelter is much more open about his army. My ladll not be doing a lot of yomping, so it doesnt matter if the footwear is a bit slack or a bit snug.Obviously hes describing a sort of Dead Army and he has been making them look the part cutting their hair all the same length, giving them the same boots even if they arent always the perfect fit since they are not going to be marching around anywhere because, as we know, they are all dead, murdered by Shelter to be precise. By this point in the novel we can tell he is absolutely insane. Shelters claims to be clever are completely correct. The way he coaxes people into accept he is a genuinely kind, friendly, caring and reachable man, takes skill. He can put on such a good act.In daily routine orders 15 he plays the part of a man who is rightfully upset about his missing cat and asks Link if hes seen it. Also in daily routine orders 15 he fools the police into believing he had nothing to do with the disappearance of Tanya. In terms of cleverness Shelter is brilliant, completely undetectable. Link and Shelter finally meet but now we see Shelter through Links eyes. In this last chapter you start feeling sorry for Shelter. To get like he is he must of have a pretty rough life. Link goes on about how Gail will come to sav e him and Shelter says Shell let you down, they always do.With that statement we are told that he must have had a girlfriend in the past that let him down which immediately makes you feel sorry for him. So yes, seeing Shelter through Links eyes does change our view of him. I still wouldnt trust him more than Link, based on what I already know. To desist my essay on how Shelter changes throughout the novel. Id say my view of shelter changed when we came to the end of the novel. To start with he was just plain strange. He gradually went from strange to right out insane. When we came to see Shelter through Links eyes I felt sorry for him and he needed a lot of psychological help.