Characters

The most important characters in the short story “Lightbox” by Emma Cleary are the male narrator and Elsie. The other characters mentioned in the text are either part of the social setting or are relevant for the way the narrator relates to them (Elsie’s boyfriend, the woman in the elevator).

The narrator

The narrator’s characterisation is conveyed indirectly, through the way he perceives Elsie, society, his environment, and himself.

His outer characterisation reveals that he smokes, works remotely from his laptop, (l. 28) and that he is a bearded man (l. 9). We do not know his name or anything else about his background.

Inner characterisation

The narrator’s inner characterisation is revealed gradually, through the way he relates to Elsie and his attitude towards her, until at the end when we find out that he is a stalker.

Initially, he suggests that he is in a relationship with Elsie, a woman whom he likes very much: “I love watching her cook, the way she loses herself in the task and in the music. I flick through the stations as she dances, until I find something that matches her movements.” (ll. 39-40)

The woman has changed the narrator’s habits, as he begins to eat organic food and go to yoga for her sake: “Everything in this store is organic. I never shopped here until Elsie. I thought it was for vegan freaks.” (ll. 5-6);

I’m a novice at yoga and sometimes I just give up and lie there in corpse pose with what the instructor calls a ‘soft gaze’. Elsie’s been going to yoga for years. I prefer running but Elsie likes to run alone. (ll. 24-26)

We also find out that the n...