In "Gold-mounted Guns" by F. R. Buckley the minimal use of characters was very effective in building the plot and making Pa Sanderson's expressions that much more hurtful. If there had been a town of people who were being stolen from, the effect of the many people would have made it so it was just another regular occurrence, but it didn't and when Pa Sanderson's money had been stolen, you felt for the old guy. Also by using the characters he did, he was able to make them symbolize people within society and make the theme of the story much more critical and understandable.
             Because of the character symbolization he made it so that sympathizing with Pa Sanderson and his daughter was possible and real. He made Pecos Tommy out to be a false image like a movie bad guy; he made it so that Pecos Tommy was a fake leader. He did this by building his character up with young Willie Arblaster's mouth. If Will would have just spoke like Pecos Tommy was a low down, dirty criminal, not someone to look up to then we would have just read the story and the ending would have not been such a surprise. But when Will bragged him up making him seem so Notorious, then finding out in the last line of the story that he is dead and was killed by not some hot shot hero but by some mere town sheriff, it makes the ending not just surprising but mind blowing.
             Will Arblaster was used in the story because he was a symbol of a follower someone who needs a leader because they are incapable of doing a deed on their own. In our society he would be the type of person who followed Hitler and believed that his way was the right way. Although near the end he changed he became a dynamic character eventually maturing into seeing that what he was doing wasn't right. He put his life on the line in order to get Pa Sanderson his money back and eventually learned a valuable lesson on a life of crime.
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