The narrator

Outer characterisation

The narrator’s outer characterisation in Ron Butlin’s short story “The German Boy” is very brief. His encounter with his classmate Klaus happened 20 years before the time of narration (p. 93, l. 10). He has been working for 10 years (p. 93, l. 26) and has been married for five (p. 93, l. 29) and has young children. Therefore, it could be assumed that at the time of narration, the narrator is somewhere in his mid-30s.

He has attended public school, where he learned Latin and later went to Oxford “to read Classics” (p. 93, l. 22) but left in his third year. He is a merchant banker (p. 93, ll. 30-31) and an executive (p. 96, l. 4) at a firm named “Cochrane and Assocs.” (p. 93, l. 13). His responsibilities include buying, selling, and lending money, and dealing with clients (p. 93, ll. 13-14).

Inner characterisation

The narrator is presented as family-oriented. He has entered a long-lasting relationship with Sylvia, his wife of five years and mother of his children. The narrator and Sylvia celebrate their wedding anniversary together. They are affectionate with each other, and Sylvia tells him she is proud of him as a husband (p. 93, l. 30). However, despite the strong familial bond, the narrator seems unable to talk to his wife about his failing business (p. 95, ll. 34-36). The relationship between parents and children seems healthy. The parents have dinner together with their children and the narrator reads them bedtime stories (p. 95, l. 28-30).

Moreover, when his father dies, the nar...