Who is Manny in Shadowshaper?

Manny is a shadowshaper and a friend of both Sierra and her grandfather. He is the person who asks Sierra to create the mural on the tower. Manny realizes that the Brooklyn of the past that he knows is disappearing and he tries to fight back and let his voice be heard by communicating his distaste of what it happening through the mural on the tower. At the same time, the mural fights the outsider who threatens Brooklyn’s spiritual heritage. Thus, he is a warrior on two fronts.

Manny’s character shows how people trust what they think they know even though it may no longer be true. Sierra knows that Ol’ Vernon became a corpuscule. Yet when the same thing happens to Manny, she tries to convince herself that he is still alive and stops to let him talk to her when she they are on Coney Island. This action almost lets him catch her. Events from the past can linger as does her memory of Manny. These memories can move into the present and keep someone from moving forward.