Characters

The protagonist of the short story “The Little Black Dress” by Clifford Thurlow is Vicky, and we will focus on her characterisation. Her husband, Fergus, is an episodic character and we will briefly refer to him in Vicky’s characterisation.

Vicky

The protagonist’s full name is Victoria Greenham (l. 283), and her maiden name was Victoria Page (l. 282). Her outer characterisation reveals that Vicky is 23-years-old (l. 56) and works as a “physical training pro” (ll. 57-58) at a fitness centre. She is  married to a man named Fergus, has a sister living in Barcelona, and her parents died: “I’m twenty-three, an old maid, she says, then remembers she’d married Fergus during her last year at college.” (ll. 56-57); “...the music she listened to when she was a child bringing back bittersweet memories of her parents, the fire that whipped through their cottage, leaving nothing but a pile of ash, and her sister, Rachel, sitting at her side in the crematorium...” (ll. 225-229)

Inner characterisation

Vicky’s inner characterisation indicates from the very beginning that she is a troubled woman: “She comes to a stop outside a shop and gazes up at a little black dress that is short, sleeveless, unassuming. Like me, she thinks.” (ll. 3-4)

Her attention is captured by a beautiful little black dress in a shop, an element which makes her curious and aware that she does not recognise herself anymore: “As Vicky glances at her watch, she glimpses someone she doesn’t know in the window’s reflection and leans closer to make sure it’s her. She checks her hands, counts her fingers, then stares back again at the mannequin…” (ll. 11-14)

In her relationship with her husband, Vicky is frustrated. She finds herself forgetting that she is married (ll. 56-57) and furious that she cannot gather up the courage to make Fergus aware of how she feels: “She spends a long time sitting on the loo. It would be nice to find fault with Fergus, have a good row, break something, but Vicky doesn’t have the energy.” (ll. 47-49)

For her, Fergus used to be a symbol of love and protection, but is now “the voice of calm, a steady pair of hands, a brow furrowed and sown with congenital angst” (ll. 65-66). He is very concerned with saving the poor and the environment, and he also tries to control Vicky’s actions, making her feel like a prisoner in their marriage:

He sits forward, glaring at the screen, and still notices out of the corner of his eye as she quietly refills her glass.
‘Naughty girl. Two units. That’s the limit,’ he says.
‘It’s only my second,’ she whispers.
(…)
Fergus is so scrupulous about what she eats and drinks, Vicky’s convinced she’s going to live forever and worries sometimes that she ...