Characters

The main characters in “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses” by Irwin Shaw are Michael and Frances Loom…

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Frances

Frances is one of the two main characters in the short story.

Outer characterization

Her outer characterization only reveals that she is married to Michael and that they are a “young couple with money” (l. 32) and does not provide further information about her age or appearance. Nevertheless, the way Frances looks is briefly referred to when she compares herself with the other women Michael looks at:

‘I’m pretty, too,’ Frances said. ‘As pretty as any of them.’
‘You’re beautiful,’ Michael said.
‘I’m good for you,’ Frances said, pleading. ‘I’ve made a good wife, a good housekeeper, a good friend. I’d do any damn thing for you.’ (ll. 137-140)

Furthermore, the story’s ending suggests that Frances is quite attractive: “what a pretty girl, what nice legs” (l. 173).

Inner characterization

The woman’s inner characterization is revealed from the way she interacts with her husband and from the way she relates to the environment. At first, when she notices that her husband is checking another woman out, Frances jokes about it, which reveals that she does not initially consider the event important:

‘Look out,’ Frances said as they crossed Eighth Street. ‘You’ll break your neck.’
Michael laughed and Frances laughed with him.
‘She’s not so pretty,’ Frances said. ‘Anyway, not pretty enough to take a chance of breaking your neck.’
Michael laughed again. ‘How did you know I was looking at her?’ (ll. 9-13)

Frances is also happy to spend an entire day with her husband and reveals that she dislikes only seeing him at night:

‘Let’s just hang around with each other. You and me. We’re always up to our neck in people, drinking their Scotch or drinking our Scotch; we only see each other in bed. I want to go out with my husband all day long. I want him to talk only to me and listen only to me.’ (ll. 18-21)

After they agree to avoid the Stevensons and spend the entire Sunday together, Frances is excited and enthusiastic, as she plans the day ahead:

‘First let’s go to the Metropolitan Museu…

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Michael

Michael is the second most important character in the short story. His outer characterization is more detailed than his wife’s and is rendered by Michael himself:

‘Guess again. I’m older now. I’m a man getting near middle age, putting on a little fat, and I still love to walk along Fifth Avenue at three o’clock on the east side of the street between Fiftieth and Fifty-seventh Streets.’ (ll. 107-109)

Note that Michael is not originally from New York, but from Ohio (l. 103).

Inner characterization

Through his inner characterization, readers discover that Michael is a man of habit, as he compulsively watches attractive women.

At first, when Frances comments upon Michael looking at a beautiful girl, the man is surprised to notice that his wife is aware of his gestures: “Michael laughed again. ‘How did you know I was looking at her?’ ” (l. 13).

When Frances talks about missing him and wanting to spend the entire Sunday with him, Michael does not respond in the same note. He does not reciprocate her enthusiasm and only responds in short sentences, suggesting that he is not as excited by their relationship as his wife is:

‘Is it a date?’
‘It’s a date.’
Frances leaned over and kissed him on the tip of the ear.
‘Darling,’ Michael said, ‘this is Fifth Avenue’”
‘Let me arrange a program,’ Frances said. ‘A planned Sunday in New York for a young couple with money to thro…