The young man with the dreadlocks
Elizabeth Baines’ short story “Kiss” introduces the character of the young man with the dreadlocks. His outer characterization suggests that he is a young black man wearing “tight jeans” (l. 15). The young man with the dreadlocks grew with a single mother who used to work a “hospital cleaning job” (l. 70). He and his mother lived in council housing (l. 68). This shows he was part of the working class. As a teen, he had problems with the police and went to court.
The young man’s inner characterization reveals that he was bullied as a child because of his skin color and lower economic status: “The monkey noises and gestures, […], the sly and not-so-sly slurs in the playground” (ll. 68-69). This caused him to feel angry all the time.
He stopped going to school and “as...