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Miss Van Cheele
The Toop child is an unnamed, ungendered child who disappears along with Gabriel-Ernest. A member of Miss Van Cheele’s Sunday school class, the Toop child is sent home with Gabriel-Ernest close to sunset, and they are both presumed drowned in the mill-race. If Gabriel-Ernest is indeed a werewolf, however, then it is more likely that he ate the Toop child. The Toop family, however, chooses to believe the first explanation, in no small part due to the fact that, as the story sarcastically puts it, they have 11 other children and are “decently resigned to [their] bereavement.”
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The Toop Child Character Timeline in Gabriel-Ernest
The timeline below shows where the character The Toop Child appears in Gabriel-Ernest. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Gabriel-Ernest
...just before sunset, he learns that his aunt has sent Gabriel-Ernest to take “the little Toop child home,” for safety. Van Cheele runs out once again, hoping to reach the Toops’ house...
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Just before Van Cheele comes in sight of Gabriel-Ernest and the Toop child , the sun goes down and he hears “a shrill wail of fear.” There is...
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