Characters

The narrator

The unnamed narrator is the main character of the short story “Weightless and Hysterical” by Amanda Miska. She is seventeen years old, and a few weeks shy from turning eighteen: “I wouldn’t be eighteen until May”. Just like her friends, the narrator attends Grace Prep Christian High School, where part of the graduation requirement asks girls to volunteer at the pregnancy clinic. The narrator has an older boyfriend, Jordan, whom she keeps a secret from her family and friends. 

Although she is a Christian, the narrator questions the Christian teachings that influence her life. The narrator feels that what she has been taught all her life is in conflict with what she thinks herself. For example, when Mariel talks about fetuses feeling pain, the narrator’s sharp reply suggests that she does not fully agree with the things they are told at school and questions their accuracy: “ ‘But they don’t even have brains yet,’ I protested.” 

Furthermore, when the girls verbally assault a couple that goes in for an abortion at the clinic, the narrator is the only one who remains silent, which highlights her inner conflict:

We all turned to where she was looking at a twenty-something couple get out of a truck together. (…) They made a beeline for Xavier, who was holding the door and waving...