Characters

The main characters in the short story “The Other Couple” by Sandra Marslund are the narrator and the narrator’s partner. After they lost a child, they have been having relationship problems because they deal with the loss in different ways. The narrator still suffers from the trauma of the event and resents her partner for not noticing her pain and pretending everything is alright. They do not communicate well and fail to understand each other.

The old couple that only the narrator sees and who appear wherever the narrator is might be a symbolical representation of the narrator’s anxiety about her future. The narrator sees herself and her partner in a few years, unhappy and childless, and she is upset by the possibility. 

You can read a full characterization of the narrator and the narrator’s partner in the following sections.