King and the Dragonflies

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2020

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-16

Chapters 17-19

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Character Analysis

Kingston “King” James

Kingston “King” James is a 12-year-old Black youth who struggles to cope with the recent death of his older brother Khalid. King is introspective and imaginative. He imagines that his brother has turned into a dragonfly because one of the insects flitted into the church and landed on his brother’s casket during the funeral. It is his way of holding on to his brother’s memory, imagining that he is still part of this world but has just taken on a different form. King admits to being a quiet type: “Most people think that, because I don’t say much, I’m the shyest king to ever walk the earth, but I’m not actually shy. I just don’t like to speak as much. I speak even less, now that Khalid is gone” (14). In fact, King spends much of the novel immersed in his thoughts, trying to make sense out of a mystifying world that took away his 16-year-old brother. When he needs to be alone, he often escapes to his backyard tent or to the bayou, where he watches the dragonflies, fantasizing that one of them could be his brother. He keeps a journal, where he has recorded musings about the mysteries of the universe that Khalid said in his sleep.

King’s spiritual nature and curiosity about the universe stem largely from the influence of his late brother. After Khalid’s death, his brother’s ruminations about the secrets of the universe, such as “you’re not your body” (85) and “time’s all one” (98) become more important to King. He scans the pages of his journal, looking for clues about his dead brother’s whereabouts and the afterlife. He also seeks to unravel the mystery of his own identity. When his friend Sandy tells him he’s gay, King responds that he might be gay too. His uncertainty, or self-denial, about his sexuality persists throughout most of the novel.

King describes himself as a coward more than once in the story, but he shows courage in hiding Sandy and confronting the sheriff at his house about his abusing Sandy. Toward the end of the novel, King comes out of his shell and becomes outspoken with his parents. He speaks out in defense of his friend Sandy, who ran away to escape physical abuse from his father.

Charles “Sandy” Sanders

Sandy is a white boy who is King’s best friend. King describes Sandy as shy, pale, and nervous: “Sandy’s always been nervous, unable to meet anyone’s eye, even when he’s laughing and excited and happy” (39). However, despite his apparent timidness, Sandy is more comfortable with his gay identity than King is. When Sandy tells King he’s gay, King stops being his friend because of his brother’s disapproval of gay people. However, this rejection does not make Sandy retreat to the closet. Instead, he confronts King about the issue when they run into each other in the Bayou: “I’m not ashamed of it. It’s not wrong, to like boys instead of girls. I’m not ashamed of it, you hear?” (42).

Sandy feels alienated from his family and ashamed of the Sanderses’ racist reputation. However, when King brings up the Sanderses’ racism, Sandy points out his hypocrisy: “We were friends,’ he says. [...] And then I told you—[...] I told you I like guys, and that was it. You looked at me like I was spit on your shoe. Like I disgusted you. You think my granddad is bad because he was a racist. But what’re you doing, King? You’re doing the same. Exact. Thing” (93). Later in the novel, after the two are friends again, Sandy says he is sorry for the pain the racists in his family have caused. King tells Sandy that he’s not to blame for his family’s wrongdoings, and he apologizes for how he treated Sandy.

Sandy has an independent streak. Abandoned by his mother at an early age, Sandy and his brother Mikey have had to fend for themselves because their father neglects their needs. He learned to cook. When he runs away and hides in a shack in the bayou, Sandy is happy fishing for food and living on his own.

Khalid James

King’s brother, Khalid, is dead when the novel begins, but King and the other characters feel his presence throughout the story. Khalid visits King in his dreams, and King frequently recalls Khalid talking in his sleep when he was alive. Khalid is wise beyond his 16 years. He is an intellectual who ponders the mysteries of the universe in his sleep. He shares his profound theories about the workings of the world with his brother in a subconscious state. His favorite book, A Wrinkle in Time, undoubtedly influences his fascination with time and space. When he says things like “time’s all one” (98) and “you’re not your body” (115), it seems as if he is anticipating his early death and preparing his brother for the transition to his spiritual presence.

Khalid is tough but also sensitive. He gets in fights with Mikey Sanders when Mikey calls him the N-word. On more the one occasion, he tells King he loves him. He races King to the TV remote, but then lets King watch what he wants even when he wins the race. Khalid plays soccer, and, unfortunately, dies suddenly of a heart attack while playing.

Khalid’s one character flaw is his anti-gay streak. When he overhears Sandy tell King he is gay, Khalid advises King not to be friends with Sandy anymore. “You don’t want anyone to think you’re gay too, do you?” (27) he tells King. Although he is just trying to protect King from anti-gay bullying, Khalid’s anti-gay advice is a major factor in King’s identity crisis.

Reginald James

King’s father, construction worker Reginald James, has an old-school philosophy about life. He believes a boy should not cry and should not help his mother in the kitchen after he turns 10 years old because he’s “on the way to being a man” (46). Reginald thinks being gay is “unnatural” (56). He says, “Men are supposed to be with women, because that’s just the way it is” (56). He believes the no-gay rule especially applies to Black people. “Black people can’t be gay” (57), he says. […] “If a Black person is ever gay, it’s because they’ve been around white people too much” (57). Reginald warns his son about anti-Black prejudice in the world but fails to see that anti-gay sentiment is also prejudice.

However, Reginald changes in the novel more than any other character except for King. When his oldest son Khalid dies, he cries at the funeral, breaking his own rule. When his wife shuts down with grief, he starts cooking meals for the family.