Mr. and Mrs. Winter

Mr. and Mrs. Winter are important characters in the short story “Sleeping” by Katharine Weber. Their outer characterization shows that they are married and that they have a child named Charles. They are most likely well off as they pay Harriet more money than necessary after her job. (l. 29). 

Their inner characterization shows that they display a strange behavior when it comes to Harriet babysitting their child. They ask Harriet not to change or feed Charles, and not to look in on him, as he is “a very sound sleeper” (ll. 4-5) who must not be disturbed. The Winters’ precautions are rather unusual, and hint that something might be wrong. 

The Winters do not display a typical behavior for parents, who might be worried when leaving their child with they do not kn...