ETA Hoffman's short story "Sandman" is widely regarded as a masterpiece of romanticism. Many of the characters in this story are extremely classic and successful, but many of them are also exaggerated and absurd. "Sandman" make a great influence on the literature and popular culture of later generations. The characters are also constantly changing. As part of the research method of tracing the source, we then return to the text itself, analyzing its expression techniques from its lines, and gradually disassembling it to find out how he created such vivid characters through the metaphors he used between the lines and the way he arranged the plot. In this short story, many fantastical characters are created, many of whom are exaggerated and absurd, which has a great influence on traditional and contemporary books of literature. And characters often change in this story as well. Based on the typical images and general plots of the work, this article will deconstruct the work in four paragraphs. Examine how the plot and the typical characters are built.