The primary observation of interest that jumped off of the pages at me in Langland's Piers Plowman was each character's symbolic significance. The narrator's vision begins with an expansive view of these people clamoring for truth that turns into a long description of the scum of 14th-century England. But as the story moves into the search for this truth and the plowing of Piers' land the cast of characters begin to resemble Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. This parallel is most specific in the character of the knight whose steadfast loyalty transcribes him directly into the role of Piers' protector. Parsons, pardoners, and law-sergeants also make an appearance which show that both Langland and Chaucer had observations about people in certain positions they needed to express through verse.
Langland's less detailed(than Chaucer) characterization serves to further establish the dreamlike setting. Nowhere in the text is his symbolic character representation more apparent or exaggerated than when he names Piers' family. He almost appears to be making fun of his own style when he states Pier's son's name "Suffer-Your-Sovereigns-To-Have-Their-Will-Condemn-Them-Not-For-If-You-Do-You'll-Pay-A-Dear-Price-
Let-God-Have-His-Way-With-All-Things-For-So-His-Word-Teaches."
Finally, Langland likens knowing God to a quest for truth and uses Love as a metaphor for Jesus. This allows him to play on the meanings of these words all while purporting his own beliefs about God and lambasting those who abuse or forsake the Truth and Love.