Character Study: Charles Freeman (Part 4)

Charles Freeman has been a part of this story nearly as long as Greycloud has. The Greycloud we come to know by the end of "The World Ender" is driven by anger. He needed a counterpart, someone who can keep showing him the good side of humanity, reminding him that there is a point where we all lose ourselves if we pursue the darkness too far. He is Greycloud's anchor.

Charles' character is sympathetic to the trials that Greycloud endures, because he too has failed to stay on the right path in his own life. We get tidbits of his story inside the book, but they are more like hints to a difficult life.  In "The World Ender", we learn that he served in the military for a short time before becoming a security guard with a Top Secret clearance. 

During that time, he married, had a son, and eventually divorced. In the book, it isn't clearly stated why the divorce occurred, but we know that his own son wants nothing to do with him. It's safe to say that he was unfaithful, which led to the complete destruction of his family.  Although his story resides in the background, we see moments where it is clear that he lives with the guilt. He fully owns the fact that he was the one who caused the end of his marriage and only saw the value of what he lost after it was gone.

Ironically, being unfaithful in his marriage led him to renew his faith as a Christian. This faith is what he clings to as the end of the world looms on the horizon. This is evident by his quiet insistence to hold on to a necklace with a cross - the symbol of his faith.

We also learn an interesting fact about him further on in the story; he used to repair and modify cars with his father as a young child. This skill makes him nearly as adept as Greycloud at building useful tools from the scrap heap left behind after humanity fled into the domes.

Without Charles, Greycloud would truly be lost. For the ten years outside the dome, he's been Greycloud's friend and on more than one occasion, has saved his life.  There are so many stories that could be told about those ten years, where the two of them traveled the countryside, searching for a way inside the domes while fighting off the desperate few who remained behind. In that world, the only people left are men, fully aware that their days are numbered. In short order, the last human living outside the dome will die and eventually there will be no resistance left. 

In that environment, with no formal government and no structure to civilization, the men become tribal. The lost, soulless men hunt down other tribes, some groups even going so far as to becoming cannibalistic. The world outside the domes is as unrecognizable as the new world inside them. But through it all, Greycloud and Charles work together in the hopes that one day they can try to correct their mistakes... or at least, make this new life bearable.