Michael Character Analysis

Michael is Claudia’s love interest in the “After” timeline and Ms. Walker’s grandson. He’s a year older than Claudia and attends the same church. Claudia remembers him as Mikey, the chubby kid of the congregation. But Michael has grown up since then—now he’s tall, handsome, funny, and charming. At first, Claudia is reticent to get involved with Michael—largely because it seems like Ma asked Michael to befriend Claudia, and that he’s only nice because he pities her. Claudia refers to Michael as “Mr. Popular” at one point, because Michael is gregarious, kind, and can make anyone love him in mere minutes. Even Ma, who’s usually very strict, doesn’t express any interest in keeping him away from Claudia; she thinks he’s entirely trustworthy. Michael adores football above all else, which dictated where he chose to go to high school—and causes some issues for him. His dad has recently retired from the air force and took a job in Dubai. The job was supposed to be temporary, but when it turns out to be permanent, Michael is distraught: there’s no football in the Middle East. He eventually works it out with Ms. Walker to stay with her and finish school in Washington, D.C. Because Michael knows that his grandma tutors kids with learning disabilities, he realizes that Claudia dyslexia. Though Claudia fears that he’ll tease her or think less of her, Michael consistently tells her that she just thinks differently than other people and is just as smart as anyone else. As Claudia and Michael grow closer, he helps her unravel the mystery of what happened to Monday. As he spends more time with her, it doesn’t seem like he always knows for sure whether Claudia remembers what happened to Monday or not. Once Claudia finally remembers for the third time that Monday has been dead for two years, Claudia and Michael’s relationship finally becomes officially romantic. He helps her achieve closure by driving Claudia to listen to Mrs. Charles’s confession outside of Monday’s house.