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Who are the characters in "A Piece of Steak"?
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The main characters are Tom King, his wife Lizzie, and Sandel. Tom King is an aging, down-on-his-luck boxer, struggling to support his family. He reflects on his past victories, including against Stowsher Bill. Lizzie is his supportive but worn-out wife. Sandel is a young, ambitious boxer who ultimately defeats King in the ring, representing youth and strength. The story highlights themes of aging, poverty, and the relentless passage of time.
The characters in the story are Tom King, his wife Lizzie, and Sandel. Both King and Sandel are boxers, who match up in the ring for much of the story; King also reminisces about another boxer, Strowther, whom he had defeated earlier in his fighting career.
Lizzie had once been pretty, as signs in her face still indicate. But they are poor, and their working-class existence has taken its toll. Now she is "thin, worn," and sacrificing: going without so he can eat.
King describes himself as Age and Sandel as Youth in terms of their fight. Although mostly living by his muscle, he is also introspective as he muses on earlier fights. Physically, Tom is "a solid-bodied, stolid-looking man" and not "overprepossessing." Their poverty shows in his old clothes and shoes. He has a boxer's face, from years of competing in prize fights, a "lowering countenance" that bore "all...
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the marks of the fighting beast," and especially noticeable eyes: "sleepy, lion-like—the eyes of a fighting animal." Other marks of the fighter include his broken nose and a cauliflower ear.
Sandel is described in terms of appearance and his fighting techniques and skills (he wins) but not personality. He does not speak. London describes him as having a "strongly handsome" face, curly blond hair, and a magnificent body.
Tom King is the main character in Jack London's short story. King is a down-on-his luck boxer who has seen his share of glory in days past, but now finds himself in a desperate situation to try to win a fight so he may continue to support his wife and children.
As King prepares for his fight, he reminisces about past experiences that have led him to this point in his life. He particularly thinks about an aging fighter he defeated when he was a younger man, Stowsher Bill. Stowsher Bill had fought hard, but was unable to defeat the younger, stronger fighter that King was at the time. King remembers Stowsher Bill crying after his defeat.
King fights against a younger fighter named Sandel. Sandel is young and anxious to make a name for himself. Sandel is at first confused how to overcome King's craftiness in the ring, but his youth and strength overpower King and Sandel wins the fight.
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