The protagonist

Next, you can read a detailed characterisation of the protagonist of “A Place in the Sun” by Joanne Harris.

Outer characterisation

The protagonist lives in a community where people have access to different types of beaches, based on their youth and appearance. She aspires to earn a place at the Platinum Sands™, the most exclusive beach (ll. 6-9).

The protagonist is a Silver cardholder, having waited for two years to become a member: “I only have access to Silver Sands™ (…) I was on the Silver Sands™ waiting list for nearly two years before I made the grade” (ll. 24-27). She lives in a Silver flat (l. 51), suggesting that once she became a member of Silver Sands™ she also moved to a better neighbourhood.

The protagonist focuses on general features: height, weight, a beautiful face, big breasts. She aspires to become the perfect model of a woman, as dictated by the society she lives in: “A Platinum girl never gets a blister, never a blemish. A Platinum girl is sleek, groomed, plucked, airbrushed, expensive, fabulous in her fabulous clothes.” (ll. 114-116).

The protagonist thinks that she has the height (l. 79) to become a Golden beach member but still needs to fix her teeth and lose weight: “I do need to get my teeth fixed, and I need to get back down to eight stone to meet the Slenderness requirement.” (ll. 80-81)

Her face is “almost a Platinum, except for the nose” (ll. 86-87), and her breast size is 32C (ll. 88-89). Her friend Tanya thinks she is already pretty (l. 107).

We first learn that the girl is tanned: “I’m a Cappuccino going on Chocbar” (l. 66).  She and her best friend Lucida had “complementary hair extensions and little matching bikinis” (ll. 74-75). She is probably blonde – this is suggested by the fact that Lucida, who has meanwhile progressed to Gold beach status, now “thinks blonde is tacky”. (ll. 75)

The end of the story r...