Characterisation of other characters

The story “On Pale Green Walls” by Clare Wigfall features several active characters: Violet, the mother and the father, and the priest. There are also characters like the grandmother and the brother who are absent from the actual action.

The most important characters are Violet and her mother.

The mother

The mother is an important character in the story because she is often with Violet and she is the cause of the girl’s frustration.

From her outer characterisation, we find out that she is a married woman with two children (Violet and her brother).

Inner characterisation

The woman’s inner characterisation suggests that she is a religious person. She goes with her family to church for Christmas, and she seeks the priest’s advice when she cannot understand Violet’s behaviour: “ ‘Look at her!’ my mother cried. ‘Oh, Father! She’s sticking her tongue out at the Lord!’ I drew my tongue back in.” (ll. 127-128)

When Violet ‘kills’ baby Jesus by drawing on a photo of the Virgin Mary holding him, the mother is shocked and reacts angrily. This suggests the woman assumes her child already knows and understands who the Virgin Mary and Jesus are. But this is not the case. Consequently, we can say the mother does not understand and know her daughter very well:

I pressed my shoulders up against my ears to muffle their voices, but I could tell my mother was upset. She swooped down to me. “Why did you do it, Violet?” she asked, pulling my head from my arms. (ll. 68-71)

Furthermore, the woman is quite aggressive with her child and shows she has very little patience with her. As they walk to church she does not pay attention to Violet, but is simply concerned with keeping the child next to her: “I was holding her hand, and after a while I began to lean out from her and swing. ‘Violet!’ she scowled.” (ll. 79-80)

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Also, here we talk about Violet's father and the priest.