Characters

The real-estate agent

The character that stands out most frequently in Morris Lurie’s “The Larder” is a real-estate agent. He is one of the tourists who brought back shells from the reef. The real-estate agent does not have a name or a backstory, and readers only know his occupation. This suggests that the author’s intention with the character was to create the portrait of a typical tourist. His outer characterization tells us that he is a man with “a huge face, loose jowls, shaggy eyebrows, his shirt open at the throat and his corduroy jacket loosely thrown over his shoulders” (p. 91, ll. 27-29).

The real-estate agent’s inner characterization is created through his actions, his thoughts, and his words. When we first meet the character, he is sitting at dinner with the other tourists, discussing the shells. He comes across as proud and self-important: “ ‘Oh, I brought back nine,’ one of them said. He laughed” (p. 91, ll. 26-27).

He then admits he might have exagger...