The Clarence Principle - Characters

Characters

• Clarence: The protagonist of the story. Clarence takes his own life after some misfortunate events. He wakes up to realization that he is now in a world of the dead. Clarence must search the realm of the dead for the answer to the question "How the dead can die"
• Elissa: Clarence's old lover, she is the reason that Clarence committed suicide. She does not show up often in the book but is the final obstacle for Clarence to find peace in the realm of the dead.
• Blossom: A young spirit that resembles Elissa, Clarence encounters her on a stage with a pitch black audience. She and Clarence put on a play that is entitled "The Clarence Principle" Their confrontation on stage is similar to Clarence and Elissa's conversation in the stories climax.
• Death: A strange dark skinned man that keeps record of all the new souls that arrive into the realm of the dead. He tells Clarence that people who commit suicide can not enter the realm of the dead and that his presence is poisoning the other spirits.
• The Man in the Moon: A strange man in a top hat and cloak who has been trying to kill himself for 236 years. He makes a deal with Clarence that if he can find a way for the dead to die he will give Clarence directions to get to his personal heaven.
• The Tailor: A spirit that helps Clarence after he has fallen off a cliff and tears his arm off. The tailor tells Clarence that he will give him a needle and spool of thread if he will give him the same arm back when he no longer needs it.
• The Judge: A small skeleton dressed like a Judge, he claims that Clarence has committed a crime that he never did. When Clarence asks him what he is guilty of the Judge hesitates and tells him to stop "stating the obvious" The Judge is also the one who gives Clarence the answer to the question "can the dead die?"