Michele has been brought up in a society that has caused him to develop an incredible imagination, as during this time children were expected to seek entertainment through solely themselves. Therefore in order to entertain one another Michele and his gang base their imaginary adventures around books and stories they have read. Michele in the book seems to gain an inner-strength through the heroes featured in these comic-books particular Tiger-Jack, to which aids Michele through difficult and worrying situations such as when sneaking off to meet Fillipo he tells himself “I must be brave. Tiger Jack. Think of Tiger Jack. The Indian would help me. Before making any move, I must think what the Indian would do in my place. That was the secret” [p. 183]. Tiger Jack is used by Michele as a way to confront his fears as well as allowing himself to be more brave.
During the course of the book we witness how Michele is forced to mature rapidly. At first Michele thought only monsters possessed evil qualities, but as his father once said “Stop all this talk about monsters. . . . Monsters don’t exist. It’s men you should be afraid of, not monsters” [p. 170]. Michele soon realizes that this true. This is down to the fact that he is quickly discovering the harsh actuality of the world he lives in., which previously he had been protected from. This links back to the title, as the reality of the world is uncovered many fears are uncovered for which Michele must face front on. Examples of how Michele’s maturity is witnessed in the book can first be found immediately in the first scene during which a race up a hill is taking place. A scene in which Michele chooses to sacrifice winning the race in order to backtrack and assist his injured sister Maria. This action of compassion promptly tells the reader of Michele’s unique moral rights of a child his age. Another way in which his maturity is shown is through the way in which he handles his relationship with unfairly treated gang member Barbara. Firstly his decision to receive the forfeit that Barbara was initially awarded shows Michele becoming more conscious to what is injustice to and what is virtuous in the world and in general showing that he is becoming morally stronger. Nevertheless when young Michele is confronted by the intimidating and aggressive gang leader Skull about his friendly relations with Barbara, he quickly retreats from showing any more generosity towards Barbara. This is a sign that Michele, even though showing a braver personality than his peers he still finds himself susceptible to being “scared” by certain situations, particularly involving Skull.
Michele is faced with few fears prior to the pivotal moment of the book, which is that of Michele’s discovery of the kidnapped Fillipo. From this point onwards the innocence of Michele is hastily lost, forcing Michele to mature both physically and mentally if he is to cope in his surroundings. When Michele first meets Fillipo he is terrified of Fillipo and quickly departs yet he does show some bravery when telling himself “I’m not scared of anything”p47 in order to hearten himself to go down the hole. Michele becomes more and more courageous as respects to his frequent crossings with Fillipo and soons feels connected to him to a point that he is given the impression that may have been his brother. This is supported when he is recalled saying Fillipo “was mine and that they had taken him away from me” [p. 169]. This attachment to Fillipo could be down to the fact that they both have been hidden from the truth about the world they live in and consequently Michele feels that it is his responsibility to aid Fillipo as well as himself through the terrible predicament they find themselves in. Michele and Fillipo progressively show more and more signs of good communication to a point that Michele starts bringing him out of the hole as they learn more and more about each other.
Michele is seen to develop in to a braver person from the beginning to the end of the book, this is backed up by the idea that he sets Fillipo free in the final parts of the book against the word of his father as well as against the much feared Melichetti pigs who Michele had heard that “Rumor had it old Melichetti trained them to savage hens, and sometimes rabbits and cats can be found by the roadside”p7.
Michele also discovers inner strength through his strong religious beliefs. As shown when crossing the beam
Overall Michele has extensively grown up a lot as well as becoming an all round stronger person during the course of “I’m not scared”, as he is tested by the notions of betrayal and loyalty, betrayal regarding his father and loyalty in respects to Fillipo.
Fillipo is also a very determing character of the book. A young boy similar to Michele in some respects as they are roughly the same age and he is also forced to grow up and overcome fears due to unfortunate circumstances just as Michele is.
The main contrast between him and Michele are their highly contrasting upbringing with Fillipo being brought up into a comfortable family living the city lifestyle that the North of Italy provides, while Michele on the other hand is stuck in an under developed village suffering from the failure of a number of governmental economical schemes.
Fillipo also shows that the sophisticated education he has been served with has caused him to be an extremely knowledgeable boy. This is apparent when he is discussing a flying species with Michele. “Flying foxes fly even in the daytime and they chirp like birds. And they weigh more than a kilo . If they catch hold of the small branches they fall to the ground. I think these are flying foxes”p146. This kind of elaborate knowledge that Fillipo exhibits emphasizes the differences between himself and Michele.
Like Michele, Fillipo also has to withstand several fears throughout the book. Mostly these fears are caused mainly by the fact that the place of his whereabouts is unexplained to him. Fillipo plucks courage to confront these fears through the “wash bears”, in which he uses to comfort himself from the terrifying reality by creating a relationship with them. This is proven by the fact that he talks of the “wash bears” ,as if they are good friends such as when he says “the little bears told me you’re not scared of the lord of the worms”p77., the lord of the worms being Fillipo’s kidnappers.
Another way in which Fillipo successfully confronts his fears is through simply Michele. Michele is shown throughout to inspire Fillipo to fight back against the kidnappers and escape. An example of this can be seen in the final stages of the thrilling novel during which Fillipo admits he is “scared” of trying to flee from his kidnappers. Michele responds by saying “No you’re not scared, There’s nothing to be scared of. Hide”p223. These words of inspiration cause Fillipo to overcome his fears and obeys Michele instantly and hides. Michele assists him on other occasions also, most notably his conquering of his fear of sunlight, subjecting pain on his rather sensitive eyes.
. In conclusion Fillipo like Michele has also grown up considerably over the course of book, down to his pre-mature “loss of innoncence”, he has become a lot braver and has overcome many of his fears in different ways.
The dominant female characters present in the novel are that of Theresa (Michele’s mother) and Barbara.