Characterization of Indrani

Outer characterization

Indrani is the main character in Kate Nivison’s short story “Just below the Surface”. She is an Indian woman and housewife (p. 129, l. 1) who lives with her husband Kumar and their two children, Hanif and Laila (p. 128, l. 29) in Wanstead, a wealthy suburb in North-East London. She mentions that she has “never been out East” (p. 132, l. 18), suggesting that she was born and raised in England. She owns a shop together with her husband (p. 132, l. 42). 

Indrani wears traditional Indian clothing – a “rose-pink sari” (p. 129, l. 37) and sandals (p. 129, l. 33). 

Inner characterization

At the beginning, Indrani admits to having “somewhat of a nervous disposition when it comes to noises at night, and what with the burglaries and people putting horrible things through letter boxes, you can’t be too careful.” (p. 128, ll. 1-4). Indrani’s words suggest that she might be familiar with hate crime. In any case, she is aware t...