Characterisation of the narrator

The short story “Gideon” by ZZ Packer features two active characters, the narrator and Gideon. Other characters are mentioned (the narrator’s employers, Gideon’s parents) but they are not active parts of the plot. Instead, they help the author construct the social setting.

Outer characterisation

The narrator of the short story is an African-American woman. As a character, she is presented at the age of nineteen (p. 152, l. 1) while dating Gideon. Her outer characterization also informs us that she has no higher education and that she works in a restaurant: “I had a little life, working at Pita Delicious, serving up burgers and falafel.” (p. 154, ll. 3-4); “…with Gideon helping me plot out how I was going to go back to school, which was just a figure of speech because I hadn't entered school in the first place.” (p. 154, ll. 11-13)

Additionally, the narrator’s outer characterization focuses on the contrast between her skin and Gideon’s: “I was very dark compared to him.” (p. 153, l. 23)

Inner characterisation

The narrator’s inner characterization is conveyed by focusing on her motives, actions, and the way she perceives Gideon and herself.

She describes herself directly as “crazy back then” (p. 152, l.1) to suggest the typical courage and recklessness of young people. This also suggests that, at the time of the narration, the narrator is different from when she was nineteen years old.

Her descriptions of Gideon and his behavior suggest that she did not like him always being talkative and she did not resonate with his political activism:

‘you think the neo-industrial complex doesn't pertain to you, but it does, because by tacitly participating blah blah blah you're engaging in blah blah commodification of workers blah blah blah allowing the neo-Reaganites to blah blah blah but you can't escape the dialectic.’ (pp. 152-153, ll.19-4)

However, they are both attracted to each other. She also likes that they have different skin colors: “He was so white it was freaky, sometimes. Other times it was kind of cool and beautiful, how his skin would glow against mine, how our bodies together looked like art.” (p. 153, ll. 23-26)

Furthermore, Gideon teaches her to make love, something which she was not used to because she always thought of intercourse simply as sex:

I used to call it s...