Characters

The main characters of the short story “Zolo” by S. Bhattacharya-Woodward are Zolo and his mother. Zolo is a ten-year-old boy who has a troubled family situation and who is the victim of his mother’s neglect. Zolo faces his fear of heights as a way to cope with his scary home situation that is outside of his control. Zolo’s mother is a troubled woman who is passive and neglects her children and her household. 

Another important character is Zakky, Zolo’s toddler half-brother. Although he used to be a cheerful baby, Zakky is currently passive and unresponsive, most likely mentally damaged by his mother’s lack of care. 

Zolo

Outer characterization

Zolo is one of the main characters of the short story “Zolo” by S. Bhattacharya-Woodward. He is a ten-year-old boy (p. 1, l. 5) who lives with his mother and with his step-brother, Zakky. We do not learn anything about Zolo’s father in the story, but we can perhaps assume he has also left the family, just like Zakky’s father did later on. 

Inner characterization

Zolo has an unstable family situation, which puts pressure on him and pushes him to adopt responsibilities that are too big for a child. Zolo witnesses his mother’s neglect and passive state and does not have any other parental figure in his life. Therefore, he steps up and tries to act like a responsible adult for himself and his brother. For example, he tries to feed and change Zakky, mimicking the behavior he once saw in his parents:

He'd give Zakky a bottle. Sometimes he'd mash the baby a banana the way his mum used to. He'd lump it onto a plastic baby spoon and raise it to Zakky's mouth, but the baby would turn his face away and strain his belted body sideways. (…) He tried to change the baby's nappies, he remembered how Zakk...