Trenker’s Personalities

            Gentlehands is a novel that can engulf a reader with all of its many traits. There are many characters that fill up this story, but the most interesting one is Mr. Trenker. Mr. Trenker constantly appears in and out of the book and sets up everything for what lays in the final chapters of the novel. He is at first introduced as a minor character, but gradually transforms into a person that the plot revolves around. This novel draws heavily from Mr. Trenker’s personalities, as they make this novel excellent to read. In Gentlehands, Frank Trenker’s most prominent personalities are his caring, advising, and cruelty.

          Mr. Trenker has a caring personality to animals. He has birdfeeders, spaghetti set out for raccoons to eat, and is infuriated with people who buy fur coats. Mr. Trenker can be described as a great animal lover. When Buddy, who is his grandson, came over with his mom, a raccoon is injured by a steel trap his neighbor set to protect his garbage. After finding out, Mr. Trenker sprung instantly into action and called a doctor while wrapping the raccoon’s arm with a poultice. “‘Bring me a heavy towel from the bathroom, Buddy, and my gloves!’ he shouted up to me. ‘It’s a trapped animal!’” (120; ch. 12). Mr. Trenker also showed that he cared for his relatives when he took care of Buddy. Mr. Trenker becomes like a father to Buddy when Buddy comes, helping him out in all sorts of situations.

            Another personality that is typical of Mr. Trenker is his endless amounts of advice. Mr. Trenker is like an encyclopedia in the way that he seems to know everything in the world, from opera to animals to wine. Since Buddy wanted to impress Skye, Mr. Trenker taught him all sorts of advice on how to handle Skye. Mr. Trenker is so knowledgeable that when he says something to Buddy, Buddy gets very impressed attempts to memorize the exact words and then tries to say them to Skye! Mr. Trenker also occasionally acts like a braggart with his advice, especially when he constantly proved Skye wrong during a visit. “‘I’d really like to learn,’ Skye said. ‘I really admire birds, they’re so free. I mean, they symbolize freedom.’… ‘Far from it,’ said my grandfather.” (27; ch. 3). Finally, Mr. Trenker tells other people on what to do, but then doesn’t follow it himself, which shows that he is a hypocrite.