Characterisations

The short story “The Ladder” by Sheila Purdy has one main character: Annie. Other secondary characters appear: Vera – Annie’s supervisor, the engineers and Angela Burns, Mr Jackson’s PA. Somehow, all the secondary characters help the reader understand the development of the main character, Annie.

Annie

Annie is the main character of the short story and the narrator adopts her point of view. In fact, it is as if the story is told through Annie’s perspective. At the beginning, we do not know anything about Annie’s age or looks. We only know that she works in a big corporation:

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Vera

Vera is Annie’s supervisor. She looks like a busy woman, she owns an iPhone and she treats Annie like an inferior: “Vera, your supervisor, comes into the kitchen at a quarter to nine. With her back to you, she flicks through the catering daybook beside the phone on the worktop, and picks up the pen.” (ll. 16-18)

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Angela Burns

Angela Burns is Mr Jackson’s Personal Assistant. The fact that Annie recognises her immediately shows that she is an important person in the corporation: “Outside the door, you bump straight into Angela Burns, Mr Jackson’s PA. She’s getting the morning mail.” (ll. 79-80)

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The engineers

The engineers who work in the boardroom are not important in themselves, but in what they symbolise. They are the embodiment of obstacles that Annie encounters on her way up the career ladder.

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