Joseph

Joseph is an important character in the short story “Buttony” by Fiona McFarlane, playing an especially central role in the climax and resolution of the narrative.

The story gives much attention to Joseph's outer characterisation, which helps indicate Miss Lewis' fascination with his beauty. We even get detailed information about his mixed ethnicity: “she’d met both parents – Vietnamese mother, Polish father” (l. 23).

We also get a lot of specific information about Joseph's appearance and the effect it has on Miss Lewis: “Joseph was a compact, deliberate boy, and his straight black hair fell to his shoulders” (ll. 7-8). The narrator often uses contrasting words to describe the boy, but he is always shown as an extraordinary child who has made an impression on everyone, including his teacher: “Miss Lewis liked to call on him in class just to see his measured face rise up out of that extraordinary hair” (ll. 21-22). Miss Lewis even directly describes him as beautiful at the beginning of the story: “He was both kind and beautiful” (l. 9).

In t...