Tim Macy is an emerging author who wrote his first published work, "The Brass Teapot". He has also written plays and is currently finishing his MFA at the University of Kansas. The document provides character analyses and descriptions of plot elements for "The Brass Teapot" including the main characters of Alice and John, the setting in a small late 1900s town, and the central conflict revolving around a magical brass teapot.

2. • Tim Macy is not a very well known author. "The Brass
Teapot" was his first publication. He has written plays, and
he is currently finishing his MFA at the University of
Kansas.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
TIM MACY

3. ALICE
• Alice is one of the main characters
and an INDIRECT one. She is a
round character because she
changed throughout the story
because of the teapot (making
unwise decisions).

4. JOHN
• He is one of the main characters
and an INDIRECT one. He is the
protagonist because he is always
on the "good side" (trying to make
the right decisions about the
teapot).

5. • THE OLD WOMAN:
She gave the brass teapot to
Alice and John. She is a direct
character
THEIR
DAUGHTER:
Indirect character.
Minor character.
THE REPAIRMAN:
Direct character. Minor
character. He is a stock
character because he is
a stereotypical
repairman (i.e. overalls,
bald,etc) Direct
Character

6. SETTING
• The story takes place over a few months.
• In a small town and nameless town but apparently in the U.S.
• Sometime in the late 1900's
• Genre: Horror

7. • The Brass Teapot is about a married couple named Alice and John
who get a brass teapot from an old antique shop. They are
struggling with money and are very desperate to get any money
they can manage. They soon realize that money appears inside the
teapot whenever they harm or insult each other or themselves. The
worse things they do, the more money they get. They eventually
become so obsessed with the teapot that they quit their jobs to stay
home to try to get money out of the teapot. In the end, they have
become so desperate that they do something extreme to get money.

8. CONFLICT
• Man vs man: John and Alice argue all the time about money and
the teapot. Alice also argues with the repairman when he comes
because he cannot fix the fridge (she starts to physically fight with
him).
• Man vs self: John struggles with what he should do about the
teapot and about his wife. Alice deals with inner conflict also about
what to do with the teapot.

9. EXPOSITION
• The characters appeared in the story as it went on, they were
introduced naturally as they spoke. Some minor characters were
directly introduced by the writer. The story occurred in a nameless
place with not exactly given time.
• The conflict was introduced since the beginning of the story and it
continued to be present until the end as the conflict was not
resolved at all.

10. • RISING ACTION: It happened when the main characters noticed
that money came out of the teapot when they injured themselves.
• CLIMAX: When Alice killed the repairman

11. • FALLING ACTION: It occurred after killing the repairman when a
lot of money came out of the teapot but John was worried about the
repairman’s corpse.
• RESOLUTION: This part happens when Alice says “We could buy
our way to Paradise” "We could buy our way to paradise," she
whispered. "There's got to be fifteen neighbors in houses right
around here that trust us. Don across the street has a gun in his
closet. He keeps it loaded."

12. • POINT OF VIEW
The story was told in the 3rd person viewpoint. The narrator itself was not part
of the story but he appeared to know every little detail of it. As the narrator
conveyed the story, the reader was able to fully understand all the important
points of it as well to infer others by the clues expressed by the narrator.
• Atmosphere: The author creates uncertainty and fear. As the reader, you do not
know what will happen to the characters (feel uncertain). Alice and John fear
about many things, as the reader you fear for them as well.

13. THEMES

14. INSANITY: The characters at some point appear to be mentally ill
because they do not think about anything else but hurting
themselves to get the money they wanted.