Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda is the main character of THE POWER OF SILENCE. He narrates his experiences with his teacher, the nagual don Juan Matus. Carlos is an anthropology graduate student at UCLA who is attempting to understand the millennial-old practice of sorcery among the descendants of the Toltec people. He begins knowing very little about the ways of sorcery, stuck in what don Juan calls the "mirror of self-reflection." Carlos must journey with don Juan and study intensely under him in order to learn about the art of sorcery and move away from the preoccupations with self that afflict him and the rest of humanity.

Don Juan does his best to teach Carlos, despite secretly finding Carlos's personality repulsive. At one point in the book, Don Juan tells Carlos that he is petty, wasteful, opinionated, coercive, short-tempered, conceited, morose, ponderous, ungrateful, self-indulgent and - worst of all -...