I am not Esther - Fleur Beale Q1: Describe a character relationship in your text and explain why this relationship is important.

Further on into the book we start to see Kirby giving into Uncle Caleb’s ways. We she first arrives to the cult the family decide to replace her name with Esther. Of course initially Kirby does not agree to this. When the family starts praying she notices that the youngest of her cousins is crying. The youngest of the cousins happens to be Maggie. After a little while Uncle Caleb notices that Kirby is quite close to Maggie. He ends up exploiting Maggie to get to Kirby.

Another way Uncle Caleb uses his power over Kirby is when she is sent to the discipline room to learn verses from the bible. While in this room Kirby would reminisce about her past and why her mother left her. After she has told Uncle Caleb the verses which she had memorized she told herself that she would not allow this family to put their beliefs on her.   Slowly through the book Kirby gives into the Esther name and enjoys being called Esther and enjoys having that family feeling.

Near the end of the book Kirby starts to question her identity and is unsure of who she is. When at the Elders meeting the members are questioning if Uncle Caleb should be allowed to be a part of the group. While at the ceremony Daniel gets up and claims that he want to go to university instead of getting married. Due to this they kick Daniel out and they also kick Kirby out for standing up for him.  Kirby is relieved that she does not have to put up to Uncle Caleb anymore.

The relationship is very important to the novel because in the end Kirby realizes what environment her mother had to put up with and why her mother act in the way she does. Without the relationship we would not understand why Kirby’s mother behaves in this particular way and why Uncle Caleb’s family act the way they do.

The connection between Uncle Caleb and Kirby is not the most pleasant. Kirby does not appreciate Uncle Caleb and Uncle Caleb forces his beliefs on Kirby. This character relationship is quite important and without it it would not make sense.