Characters
There are three important characters in the short story “The Sampler” by Ira Victor Morris: the narrator, the shop girl, and the old man. In what follows, we will look at each of them in terms of characterization and provide points regarding their most important features.
The narrator
The narrator’s outer characterization is not given by the author. Despite this, we can probably assume that he is a man who has a good financial situation, as he can evidently afford to enter a pudding shop to buy one of their products.
Inner characterization
The narrator’s inner characterization, on the other hand, resurfaces from his conversation with the shop girl, from his behavior towards the old man, and from his thoughts and feelings.
First of all, the narrator comes across as curious when it comes to the shop’s display of pudding samples:
I have often wondered whether this privilege was not occasionally imposed on by people who had no intention of making a purchase, and one day when my curiosity drove me to ask this question of the shop girl, I learned that it was indeed the case. (p. 95, ll. 5-8)
When the shop girl tells him about an old man who usually samples the pudding but never buys any, the narrator becomes even more curious.
...
The shop girl
As you have seen, the author does not provide readers with the shop girl’s outer characterization. All we know about her is that she is working in a store which sells puddings.
Inner characterization
Her inner characterization begins to become evident as soon as she tells the narrator about the old man who usually comes in the shop:
“Now there’s one old gentleman, for instance,” she told me, “who comes here almost every week and samples each one of the puddings, though he never buys anything and I suppose he never will. I remember him from last year and the year before that, too. Well, let him come if he wants it that bad, say I, and welcome to it.” (p. 95, ll. 9-13)
...
The old man
The old man’s outer characterization becomes the focus of the narrator and of the shop girl. Although he is “poorly (…) dressed” (p. 95, ll. 21-22), with a “large torn handkerchief” (p. 96, l. 1), and a “shoddy overcoat” (p. 96, ll. 1-2), the man still has a neat appearance. The shop girl calls him a “gentleman” (p. 95, l. 9), which reveals that she believes he was not always poor and needy. The same idea is reinforced by the narrator, who thinks about a time when the old man was probably well-off and could afford buying what he wanted: “he could afford to come and select his favorite pudding, which he would later carry home under his arm” (p. 96, ll. 9-10).
Inner characterization
The old man’s inner characterization is revealed through his behavior and attitude. First of all, he makes a habit of coming to the store weekly and sampling their puddings.
...
