Characterization of the narrator

Outer characterization

The narrator of “The Gift” by Karen Phillips is also the main character. She is a divorced woman (l. 37) and a mother of two children (l. 49), Ben and Elly. In the story, she is struggling to make peace with the idea that her ex-husband Ron is getting married to another woman, Amelia.

While the narrator is never physically described, we know what she does not look like, from her description of Amelia. The narrator suggests frequently that Amelia is her complete opposite: “I knew from Elly that Amelia was younger than I am, but I didn’t expect the roundness, the bright scarf poured down her back or the scarlet boots. There was no resemblance to me at all.” (ll. 44-46)

The narrator’s outer characterization reveals that she used to be “a city girl through and through” (l.55) and was at university (ll. 53-54) when she met Ron. After they got married, they mo...