47 pages • 1-hour read
Unsinkable
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Character Analysis
Paddy Burns
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child abuse.
Paddy is one of the novel’s four protagonists and the character around which the main external conflict of the story revolves. Prior to boarding the Titanic, Paddy lives on the streets of Belfast, Ireland, with his best friend, Danny, and the boys survive by pickpocketing wealthy people in order to purchase what they can. Paddy is scrawny and underfed as a result of his rough life. Still, he doesn’t give up, and his determination is revealed by how he “walked sixty-seven miles to Belfast after the last whiskey-driven beating he intended to endure from his stepfather” (8). Paddy’s presence on the Titanic reflects the points discussed in The Impact of Class on Experiences. Where Alfie and the girls board the ship through legally sanctioned means as either workers or passengers, Paddy is unintentionally loaded with cargo. While this is an accident, it highlights how Paddy lacks the opportunity to board the Titanic any other way, as he is too disadvantaged to afford passage and does not have the skills or connections to gain employment.
Paddy’s ongoing conflict with the gangsters adds a level of suspense and action to the storyline. Paddy’s story offers a whirlwind adventure through the different areas and class designations of the Titanic, allowing Paddy to comment on upper-class culture from the perspective of an outsider. His denouncement of the opulence afforded to wealthy passengers highlights the expectations that first-class passengers expect aboard the ship, as well as how those expectations represent the divisions that keep social classes apart. Patty’s conflict also triggers the friendship between himself, Alfie, Juliana, and Sophie, supporting The Effect of Change on Relationships. For Juliana and Sophie, Paddy’s situation is a life-changing experience that exposes both girls to the true struggles of those not privileged by society, jumpstarting both their character arcs. By the end of the book, all three of the other children are involved in Paddy’s illegal presence aboard the ship, which lays the foundation for the team that the four will become as the series progresses.
Juliana Glamm
More than any of the other characters, Juliana is a product of growing up isolated and insulated from the structure of society. As the daughter of an earl who has always moved within circles full of people who have a status similar to her own, Juliana’s environment has continuously reinforced her perception that her status makes her a better person than those who lack such importance. The exception to this is the servants her family employs, but because of the feedback loop that Juliana receives, she never realizes that servants are truly people. Thus, while she likes and respects their positions within her home, she believes that “their function [i]s no different from that of any other useful item, like a broom or a motorcar” (79). Her voyage on the Titanic is the first time that Juliana has gotten away from her consistent environment, which prepares her for the growth she experiences later in the book.
In the early chapters, Juliana struggles with accepting Sophie as a fellow first-class passenger. Since Sophie arrived at the ship by police escort, Juliana views Sophie as a criminal who isn’t worthy of first-class privilege. Juliana passes premature judgment on Sophie that is based in Juliana’s limited understanding of society—namely, that people who commit crimes are not the same as her, even if they are wealthy. When Juliana’s dinner encounter with Sophie reveals that she is wrong about the other girl, the shield keeping Juliana apart from the world begins to crack. These cracks widen when Juliana meets Paddy and is finally forced to acknowledge that people of a lower class do not have the same opportunities or privileges that she takes for granted. By the end of the book, Juliana chooses to help Paddy evade the ship officers, even though doing so puts her at risk. Altogether, Juliana’s character represents that understanding cannot be gained without exposure.
Sophie Bronson
As the daughter of a suffragette and a mostly unwilling participant in the fight for women’s rights, Sophie’s character arc focuses on her journey toward realizing that some battles are worth fighting. At the beginning of the book, Sophie dismisses her mother as an attention-seeker who cares more about her causes than her family. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Sophie’s mother is willing to give up time with her daughter to argue for her cause, which leaves Sophie largely on her own aboard the Titanic. This gets Sophie involved with Juliana and Alfie, which leads to her meeting Paddy and the intertwining of the four characters’ arcs. From there, Sophie acts as a bridge between the boys and Juliana. Sophie wants to both be Juliana’s friend and help Paddy, but Juliana’s character makes it difficult for Sophie to justify their friendship. Sophie’s willingness to stand up to Juliana completes the bridge between the four characters. In addition, Juliana’s reaction shows that Sophie’s words have power. In this case, that power is bolstered by Sophie sharing a societal class with Juliana. Still, Juliana’s change as a result of Sophie’s words likens Sophie to her mother and how both can change minds with well-crafted arguments.
Sophie’s relationship with Juliana also represents how all the first-class passengers do not come from the same level of society. While Sophie’s family is rich enough to afford first-class passage aboard the Titanic, Sophie’s experiences traveling with her mother have opened her eyes to the inequality and injustice in the world, even if she isn’t yet ready to fight it. As a result, Sophie is far humbler than Juliana, as seen through her first meeting with Paddy. While Juliana acts as if Paddy isn’t worth existing, Sophie studies him “the way you’d examine a rare bird with a broken wing” (140). Sophie sees Paddy for who he is—someone disadvantaged by society. When his life is threatened as a result of this, she chooses to help because her mother has taught her that those without resources need those with resources to stand up for them. In choosing Paddy over Juliana, Sophie becomes the influence that Juliana needs to step outside her comfort zone and offer the type of help that her status allows her to give virtually without consequence.
Alfie Huggins
Alfie is unique among the protagonists of the novel in that he has a healthy relationship with his parent. Though he doesn’t have the most comfortable life, Alfie is glad to have his father’s love because “whatever ill luck that ha[s] already happened and might yet befall him, there [i]s that to hang on to” (84). This attitude sets Alfie up as the most stable member of the group. While Paddy, Juliana, and Sophie deal with feeling abandoned to varying degrees, Alfie carries his father’s support like a crutch. Knowing that he can go to his father makes Alfie comfortable in his place. In addition, Alfie recognizes that he has something that Juliana and Sophie don’t have, which explores how there is more to life than class and societal structures. Juliana and Sophie may come from wealthy families that can afford first-class passage on the most advanced ship in the world, but neither has a close relationship with their parents, which suggests a link between money and distance between family members.
As a steward for first class, Alfie offers an outside perspective on the richest passengers aboard the ship. At first, Alfie sees little difference between Juliana and Sophie because both are traveling under the same class designation. Thus, Alfie is oblivious to the initial tension between Juliana and Sophie, as well as the underlying reasons for it. Alfie’s oblivious nature highlights the rules and strictures that govern higher classes, such as Sophie being shunned because she is of highborn class in the US, rather than Europe, and because her mother is seen as an American rabble-rouser or troublemaker. Alfie also represents how these rules and strictures do not exist in the lower classes. Among the crew of the Titanic, people move from task to task, helping each other where they can and doing their assigned jobs without complaint. As seen by Alfie and his father, the crew are simply glad to make a living wage. Their focus is on ensuring that they do well enough to be paid that wage, and this is the area of their focus—not the unnecessarily complicated social designations of those who have enough money that they never have to worry.
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