Characters

Here is a short presentation of the most important characters in the short story “The Word Love” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: the protagonist, her boyfriend Rex, and her mother. All the three characters are essential to the conflicts developed in the short story.

The protagonist of the short story is the female narrator, who uses a second-person point of view (she addresses herself throughout the story as “you”). She is a developing character, as she changes by the end of the story.

Rex is the protagonist’s boyfriend, a secondary character in the short story. The mother is also a secondary character, mostly absent from the action. However, she is important because she is the source of the protagonist’s inner conflict and outer conflict with her boyfriend Rex.

You can read their full characterisation in the next pages.