Pudi Character Analysis

Pudi is Clemantine and Claire’s brother, older than Clemantine and younger than Claire. When they are kids in Rwanda, Clemantine and Pudi play together in the mango tree in the yard, pretending it is a jostling bus. When the war gets worse in Kigali, Pudi makes up stories that explain in a whimsical way why Clemantine has to hide indoors. Later, while she is a Rwandan Genocide refugee, Clemantine collects marbles in her Mickey Mouse backpack to give Pudi if she ever sees him again. However, as her homelessness drags on, Clemantine starts to forget what Pudi looks like. Later, when Clemantine and Claire have arrived in the United Sates and contacted their parents by phone, Clemantine and Claire hear that Pudi has meningitis. Clemantine wires money to send Pudi medicine, but he soon dies. Clemantine weeps, feeling that, although she’s lost so many people, Pudi is the first person whose death she truly mourns.