Gustav Perle

Gustav Perle is the central character/protagonist. The major issue that haunts Gustav throughout his life is his unrequited love for his mother Emilie and his best friend Anton. Part 1 details Gustav’s childhood and his fraught and emotionally distant relationship with his mother Emilie. Gustav dearly loves his mother and devotes much of his life to trying to please her and do what he is told. This results in him taking to heart her advice to master his emotions.

Although Gustav’s ability to control his emotional responses to difficult situations sometimes works to his advantage (for example, making him much more resilient than the hyper-sensitive Anton), overall this attitude to his emotions causes Gustav much suffering. Because of his mother’s desire to see Gustav master his emotions, Gustav does not inform any adults about Ludwig’s attempts to sexually assault him and does not...