Characters

The main character of Ron Butlin’s short story “The German Boy” is an unnamed narrator. The narrator is the protagonist of the story, and the narration follows his point of view. He is a developing character; he is an adult telling a story from his childhood and indicates at the end that he has reached a new understanding of those events.

Klaus is a secondary character. He is a childhood friend of the narrator and a developing character. During his stay at the British school, his attitude and way of thinking change. Klaus stops trying to fit in at school and, instead, reclaims his German identity by refusing to speak English and rejecting the teacher’s authority.

The story also features other characters such as the woman waiting outside in the rain, the narrator’s classmates, the narrator’s aunt, the teacher, and the headmaster.

You can read our characterisation of the narrator and Klaus in the next pages.