The Invention of Hugo Cabret Brian Selznick

Hugo Cabret

The main protagonist of the story, Hugo Cabret, who is only 12, has a great talent for working with mechanical contraptions, especially clockworks. It is mentioned in the book that he could fix almost everything. After moving to the train station after his father died, he became used to stealing food and drinks and other objects from people to survive in the walls train station, even if reluctantly. He is smart, determined, but is occasionally rude due to not having anyone for 2 years of living in the station until meeting Isabelle. He is described to have dirty and tousled hair. He cares deeply about his friend and family, especially his father, who has died.

Isabelle

The second main character in the book. After her parents died in a car crash, her godfather, Georges Méliès and godmother, Jeanne Melies adopted her. Due to the risk of Isabelle knowing that he was a movie maker until he was sent into depression and began working at the toy booth, Melies forbids her from going to the cinema. However, she is still able to watch movies since her friend, Etienne often helps sneak her in, but doesn't know who her uncle actually is, until meeting Hugo. She is described as having large black eyes, and to be slightly taller than Hugo.

Georges Méliès

Georges's parents worked on making shoes and encouraged him to do the same, yet he disliked it. When he grew into a young man and the movies were invented, he asked the Lumiere brothers, one of the first directors, to sell him a camera, they refused so Melies made his own camera out of his remaining materials from his parents' shoe company. His most famous work, A Trip to the Moon, was the first sci-fi movie ever made. He was also the director who first began using special effects in movies. Selznick made his personality to be often cold and haughty. In the drawings it is shown that by this point in the book he is in his senior years, and at the beginning of the book he is called 'the old man'.

Hugo's father

Hugo's father worked at a museum in Paris when he found the automaton. When there was a fire in the museum, he dies. Hugo is still able to continue his father's work of fixing it with his notebook. There is no mention of a mother at all, and since Hugo left with his uncle to the station, it is assumed that his mother may have died.

Georges Méliès' automaton

One of Selznick's inspirations to incorporate an automaton into the story was the book titled Edison’s Eve: A Magical Quest for Mechanical Life by Gaby Wood, which includes a chapter on Georges Méliès' collection of automata. His automata were kept in a museum in Paris but were later thrown away.[3] Selznick's original idea was to have Hugo find an automaton in a pile of garbage and fix it. At that time, Selznick began his research on automata and the curator at the Franklin Institute allowed him to study their automaton.[4] The history of the automaton at the institute also had a mysterious origin that was similar to what Selznick had in mind. The automaton donated to the Institute suffered major damage from a fire. It was believed at the time of donation that it was made by a French inventor named Maelzel. However, after a member of staff fixed it and got it to work, the automaton wrote at the end of a poem in French: "Ecrit par L'Automate de Maillardet" — translated as "Written by the automaton of Maillardet", revealing its true maker to be Henri Maillardet.[5] After many different ideas, Selznick settled on the story that Hugo's father had a connection with the automaton and died before the automaton was found in a burned-out building. The automaton illustrated in the book has many elements that resemble the automaton at the institute.[6][4]