Paul = Protagonist Jabir = Nemesis Dan = Mentor, trickster Wife = Attractor Pamela = Attractor Mother = Attractor Alan Davenport = Trickster Though most of the other characters don't play major roles, they still contribute to Paul's metamorphosis with their trickery, advice, cold-heartedness, love, cunningness... From the moment he wakes up in the coffin, Paul struggles to stay alive and to survive this nightmare; and in the end he still doesn't want to surrender to death. But he goes through a metamorphosis which takes a twisted roller-coaster path: panic to determination (action) to disappointment (failure) to calm to panic again to rage to worry... to despair (surrenders - the All-is-lost moment) to optimism to disappointment (he doesn't accept his fate).