Character Study

The two main characters in Richard Powers' The Echo Maker are the Schluter siblings, Karin and Mark.

Karin is ambitious and longs to escape the life she had in her small hometown. "She concentrated on saving herself, finishing her sociology degree, the first ever in a family that looke on college as a form of witchcraft" (25). However, when her brother is injured in a car accident, she reveals her true nature as someone who greatly cares for her family. She willingly gives up her current life and returns to that town in order to take care of him and help him recover his health. She is very strong on the outside and tells herself that "She could rise to this" (14) as she struggles to "get him on his feet, listen to him, help him find what he needed to be" (26). Despite this, she also has a weak side that needs someone who can support her. She becomes reaquainted with old friends who are still living in that town and "for her, seeing him meant the difference between bobbing and going under" (53).

Mark, on the other hand, seems to be unmotivated to truly do anything besides "hang with his friends. Go hear bands...Check for ground effects on eBay. Do vids. Watch TV. Run with the dog" and build up stats for a thief character he has online (65). He also cared a lot for his family, and although they live in different towns, he continues to keep in close contact with his sister. After his car accident he was in a coma due to closed-head trauma, and when he awakes, he seems to be slightly changed. He is infantile and has to be constantly taken care of in order to be restored to his former self. When he is finally back mentally to his previous level of intelligence, he suddenly believes that the woman taking care of him is not actually his sister and tells her that "there's something wrong with [her] head" (59). He thinks that there is a conspiracy preventing his "real" sister from coming to him and trained a copy to take her place. He becomes obsessed with this idea and is suspicious of everyone he ever knew.