His mother made him three loaves of bread and three cakes for him on his journey. She put poison in the cakes. She told him that the cakes were for him and the bread for his donkey. His donkey's name was Paul. After they had traveled all the morning, Manuel felt hungry. He got off his donkey and he found the bread and the cakes in his bag. The bread was hard, and the cakes were soft. "Paul has carried me so well," he said to himself; "I will give him the soft cakes and eat the hard bread myself." When Paul ate the cakes, he fell down dead. Manuel said, "My poor little donkey is dead!" How does the plot influence characterization in this excerpt?