What Moves the Dead

Alex Easton is a sworn soldier who served as a Lieutenant in the Gallacian Army. Sworn soldiers are those who were assigned female at birth, and they use the same non-gendered pronouns (ka/kan) that are specific to all Gallacian military personnel. Easton is described as “a short, stout person in a dusty greatcoat and a military haircut” (17). This nonbinary gender presentation and the social frustrations that ka faces from others’ inappropriately intimate questions is designed to act as a direct contrast to the unnamed and presumably male narrator of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.” As such, Easton’s characterization reflects T. Kingfisher’s primary approach to The Reinterpretation of Classic Literature.

By offering a more modern perspective on the story’s events, Easton serves as a particularly philosophical protagonist and narrator of What Moves the Dead. Easton’s primary traits include a balanced blend of compassion, logic, and bravery, and the character’s compassion is portrayed through a series of kindhearted decisions, including the choice to visit Madeline during her illness and offer assistance at the clear risk of personal safety. Approaching the situation with a mindset that is both logical and skeptical, Easton interprets the strange behavior and events at the Usher house through a pragmatic lens.