This is a precis of the main protagonist's character, a young girl called Lillum |
PERSONAL STATISTICS Name___Lillum Sex___Female Description (include hair and eye color, hair length, body type)___ Dark straight hair, 5ft 5ins, slender, largish hips, dark brown eyes Date of birth, age and place of birth___ Mar 1530BC, small town called D’Alphet, 30kilometers north of Thebes, in Egypt, 17years old Parents, siblings – names, appearances, ages, descriptions___ Only her Father, he's called Maram Te Marital status, children. (How old, etc)___ Not married What is their family life like?___ Lives with Father who is a craftsman (a painter) Pets?___ NO What is their neighborhood like?___ Mud huts with reed thatch, like the other huts in their small town What is in their wallet/purse that others would be surprised to find?___ What wallet? Has a paint brush made of goat hair and powders used to make paint pigment in a worn leather bag. Occupation (do they like their job? How long has this been their occupation?)___ Helps her father. He draws the designs on boxes or walls of buildings or tombs, she colours inside the outlines Financial situation___ Dependent on her father and any work he can find Future plans___ To get married to another craftsman like her father Education__ Has been taught which rocks are used for which pigments and how they are prepared. Studied the history of the Egyptian gods at the local temple. Can read and write, useful skill for a scribe/painter. Religion___ She is Egyptian, and worships a pantheon of gods, but her favorite is Isis. Favorites and why: Color___ Blue, the colour of the sky and the River Nile in the mornings Season__ Spring, when the jasmine by the river is in blossom Holiday__ The feast of Opet, because of the food, singing and dancing involved Weapon___ Err… a stick, anything handy Sport___ Err…what is sport? Pastime___ Weaving baskets from rushes cut from the riverside. Its peaceful, it can be done with friends, and you can sell the baskets afterwards and buy love charms Food___ Corn cakes made with dried dates and honey Saying___ “the gods have a reason for everything” Curse word___ “may Horus tear out your tongue!” Music___ At the festival of Opet, they use the pipes, drums, lyres and harps. Room in the house___ Only one room, a food preparation area in one corner with a raised fireplace where cooking can be carried out. She and her father have a ribbed roll each to use as a mattress. It is laid on the dirt floor, and shaken out each morning Type of personality – strongest personality traits___ Cheerful. Hopeful, respectful of the gods Weakest personality traits___ Not decisive, leaves the big decisions to others What habits does she have?__ Each morning she prays to Isis to look after her mother Prejudices, dislikes, hates___ Hates disease and laziness Needs of the character___ Needs to be recognized as a person in her own right, not just as the daughter of her father. Ambitions/goals – what drives the character – 3 short-term goals___ To be a painter like her father, to marry and have a home of her own, to beat her father at Mancala (a game with stones) 3 long-term goals____ To marry well, to raise many children and to make beautiful objects like her father. What is standing in her way?____ Her father is ill and can’t work. Without his work they cannot eat. Girls are not allowed to work as artists. They are wives and mothers, dancers and shopkeepers How does she handle conflict?___ Runs and hides Possessions she values the most___ The goat hair brush and the powders (some of which are very valuable- crushed lapis lazuli-blue pigment) Vehicle she drives___ Walks everywhere, but once rode in an ox cart (only a couple of fields) when she was about 10 years old Health___ Excellent Passions___ Colour, life and music (and food) What is their philosophy on life?___ “The gods have a reason for everything that happens” How do they feel about: Love?___ She hopes the gods will send her a loving husband who is strong and healthy, and with a little money of his own-or land-, who will love her and look after her and their children Crime?___ No. The punishments for crime of any sort are severe. Thieves have their hands cut off, murders are executed. There are few custodial punishments. Have they traveled? Where?____ Not far. She and her mother went to visit a distant cousin in the next, but one, town. They walked for two days, sleeping under a tree for one night to get there. The cousin wasn’t very welcoming, sop they left after the second day and slept under the same tree on their return Criminal record?___ No Special training?___ Her mother taught her to make honey cakes, to bake corn bread, to cook fish with lime juice, and to fry meat in a little palm oil. What happened in their past to make them who they are now? (divorce, abuse, love, cared for, pushed away, etc.) – 3 good things about their past____ The temple at D’Alphet is small but beautiful. There is a small court-yard where the children would sit and hear their lessons. She loved the temple and listening to stories in the courtyard. It made her feel safe Jephet, her neighbours son, was slightly older than her and was her greatest friend until two years ago, when he went to live with his uncle in Karnak, after his mother re-married. 3 haunting things about their past___ She had a little brother who died at three years of age from a cough. They didn’t have enough money to pay for a physician. Her mother died a year later (when she was 15), after being ill for two months, each day spitting up more and more blood. Her father is now ill and he has been coughing like her mother, but no blood yet. How does her past link to their pursuit of or reluctance to pursue their ambitions/goals?___ Terrified of being left alone. Takes the safe course. Hopes for someone to look after them, not confident enough to strike out on her own. The world is a harsh place where you need the support of friends and family to survive. She only has her father. What kind of temperament does she have and why? Does it have something to do with their past?___ Cheerful and uncomplaining, defensive. Since her mother and brother dies she sees illness and disease everywhere. She is terrified that her father will get sick and die and leave her alone in the world. What makes her nervous, why, and how does she react to nervousness?___ Violence makes her nervous. When she’s upset over anything she goes to the temple and prays to Isis What does she fear, why, and how does she react to fear?___ Sickness and Violence. - She once witnessed Jephet’s father shouting and beating Jephet’s mother with a stick. She was only 8 and was distraught for days afterwards. Not long after that, Jephets father disappeared. At the time, her father had said that he had probably left to find work elsewhere. His body was found 8 days later washed up on the river bank. His foot had been tied to a rock. Everybody had gone down to the water’s edge to look. What makes her feel safe, why, and how does she react to safe?___ To have food in the house and a roof over her head. When she feels safe she loves to sing the songs of celebration – the ones the children sing at all the festivities What des she take for granted about their life?___ Peace. In other countries they have wars and famines, but in Egypt the Gods and the Pharaoh make sure that the Nile floods every year, so there is food. A strong Pharaoh also keep Egypt’s enemies at bay. No country has dared challenge Egypt’s superiority for more than 5 centuries What do they appreciate about their life?___ The sun, the bountiful Nile, the Gods, music, friends like Jephet (who she misses), her father and the memory of her mother How would they react to: Divorce__ ?? Partner cheating___ ?? Robbery___ The gods will punish the robber for his sins in the afterlife Finding out someone loves them back___ The god have gifted her with a partner in life Winning the lottery (do w/money?)___ The god have been merciful (and a little sly perhaps) Being wronged some way? (forgive easily?)___ I isn’t for her to judge other people, their hearts will be weighed by Horus and he will punish the unworthy. Change___ Change is good, it brings new opportunities Monotony___ Monotony is fine, as long as there is enough food, and she has friends and a temple to pray in What kind of friends does she have? Does she trust them, or have them for convenience?___ She makes friends slowly but loves them forever, even if they leave and never return How will the story change her?___ She will grow from a child into a woman. A woman who can see the cruelty and venality of a priesthood that is more concerned with getting and keeping power, than their judgment by the very gods they profess to serve. |