Characters

The most important characters in the short story “The Osage Orange Tree” by William Stafford are the boy-narrator and Evangeline. The other active characters — Jane, Evangeline’s mother and brother — are only important for the setting and the themes. Absent characters like the narrator’s parents or Evangeline’s father further contribute to giving authenticity to the short story’s events and main characters.

The narrator

The protagonist of the short story is a teenage boy who is also the narrator of the events at a later time in his life (the events represent memories of the older narrator).

Outer characterization

His outer characterization reveals that he is in his senior high-school year at a new school,...

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Inner characterization

The narrator’s inner characterization is constructed in relation to Evangeline and his peers, but also through his perspective on the Great Depression.

The beginning of the short story presents the teenager as feeling awkward being the new boy at school, but also instantly attracted to Evangeline: “On that first day of high school in the prairie town where the tree was, I stood in the sun by the flagpole and watched, but pretended not to watch, the others.”;

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Evangeline

Evangeline is the second most important character in the short story, the object of the teenage narrator’s affection and attraction.

Outer characterization

From her outer characterization we find out that she is poor, owning only two dresses, that her brother is a janitor and that she keeps to herself at school, probably because she is rejected by...

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Inner characterization

Her inner characterization surfaces through her attitude and gestures. The fact that she finds ways to meet the narrator next to the tree where he delivers her paper indicates that she also likes him and cares for him, being willing to wait for him regardless of the weather:

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