Mawi Character Analysis

Even though Mawi’s life was hard for much of his life, he managed to make the most of his situation and learn as much as he could from school, his family, his mistakes, and his hardships and eventually get to Harvard. One of the first things he learned when he came to America was to treat everyone like angels, even the “lowliest of beetles: beggars, vagrants, and misfits”(Pg 29). “People always mistreated the angels, my father said because they never looked like angels”(Pg 29). Along with this Mawi’s parents “Hammered into our minds the importance of excelling in school”(Pg 33). Twolde’s tragic death at first caused Mawi to mourn, but later this event ends up making Mawi remember him fondly and want to be like him. This made him want to treat everyone like angels even more and made him a overall better

Mawi later says “My brother had always looked for angels. I had watched him see angels in the most unlikely places and wanted nothing more than to be like him”(Pg 110). Because of Mawi’s parents drilling the fact that he should do really well in school and the memory of his brother, he excelled academically and sometimes went to extremes to do so. For example, “Over Christmas vacation, I read and took notes on more than twelve hundred pages”(Pg 113) so that he could ace his junior English class. But in the end the book’s namesake (Of Beetles and Angels) came in to top things off. His letters of recommendation, which were the most convincing part of his application talked about his attitude. “Seeing beauty in others had paid off again”(Pg 118). Without the hardships in his life teaching him lessons Mawi Asgedom may have never have made it from poor