Characters

The most important characters in the short story “The Fabulous Button Sisters” by Sarah Salway are the two friends, Karen and Michelle. Other characters which appear in the short story are Karen’s parents and her friend, Connie. Characters that are only mentioned are Rory, Michelle’s parents and her aunt. In what follows, we will focus only on Karen and Michelle.

Karen

Karen is the protagonist and the narrator of the short-story.

Outer characterisation

According to her outer characterisation, she is a British teenage girl, coming from a normal, average family.

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Inner characterisation

Karen’s inner characterisation is rendered both directly by her narrator-self and indirectly through her attitude and actions in her relationship with Michelle. Furthermore, Karen is a character that develops as a result of the plot, from a ...

Michelle

Michelle is the second important character in the short story, the antagonist. Although she is never depicted as an antagonist by the narrator, because she and Karen were supposed to be friends, Michelle’s attitude, and behaviour suggest otherwise.

Outer characterisation

Her outer characterisation indicates that she is the same age as Karen because they are classmates, but she comes from a broken family. Her father had left her mother and, subsequently, her mother had left her with her aunt.

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Inner characterisation

The girl’s inner characterisation is done by Karen directly and indirectly through her actions and attitude. The two aspects are actually in contrast. While Karen views her as fabulous and confident, Michelle turns out to be ...

How to characterise

Before you set out to write your characterisation, we recommend that you also read Studienet's general guide for characterisations.