Characterisation of Samantha

The most important character in the short story “Departure Time” by Tessa Green is Samantha, the protagonist. Three other characters appear in the present of the narrative— the conductor, the old woman, and Yiannis—while the rest of the characters appear only in the backstory conveyed through Samantha’s memories and thoughts (her son, her family, Nikos and his family). However, these other characters are only relevant for the way Samantha relates to them and for constructing the social setting. For this reason, we will only focus on the character of the protagonist in this part of the study guide.

Outer characterisation

From her outer characterisation, we find out that she is a young British woman who has been living in Greece for five years with her husband Niko, whom she met when she was seventeen. Consequently, we can assume the character is about 23 years old. Samantha is also the mother of a young boy called Alexander.

When she lived in Britain, Samantha worked in a supermarket, but since she moved to Greece, she has become a housewife. All we know about her physical appearance is that “she’s tall with blonde hair” (l. 128).

Inner characterisation

Samantha’s inner characterisation presents her traits and attitude at different ages. When she was only seventeen and met Nikos, she was naïve and romantic. She fell in love with the man’s looks without knowing him very well, and decided to move to Greece and marry him very quickly: “The biggest thing she’s ever done before was in a whoosh of romance and wanting to be different from her sisters.” (ll. 34-35)

Marriage wasn’t on her mind at all but he begged her. (…) she felt superior and sophisticated and thought ‘Why not?’ Nikos is very, very good looking, everybody said so. He’s in a different league to the lads back home though he wears the same clothes and likes the same films. (ll. 79-83)

The story focuses on Samantha’s relationship with her own family and with Nikos and his family.

The way Samantha thinks about her parents suggests that she loves them and she still feels like a child who needs their protection, even if she is a married woman and a mother herself: “She holds on to the idea that when she gets home, Mam and Dad will sort it all out. They’ll get Alexander later.” (ll. 26-27); “She thinks of her father with his big cracked hands that smell of soap and oil;(…) And as she’s explaining it all to him, he strokes her hair and calls her princess.” (ll. 114-116)

The way Samantha thinks about her sisters suggests a certain sibling rivalry: “wanting to be different from her sisters.” (l. 35), “Her sister (…) looks back at her with the eyes of the world.” (l. 118)...