Characters, as you probably know, are the agents in a work
of fiction that cause action and create conflict and drive plot. They are the
personalities about whom we care, with whom our imaginations interact, who develop
images and themes of life and living. In some instances, characters can be non-human
creatures or, in rare instances, inanimate objects. The Wind in the
Willows is an illustration of the first for it is peopled with moles, rats,
badgers, toads. The House of the Seven Gables is an illustration of
the second in which the house where Hepzibah lives is an integral part of all that
occurs.
In "Hills Like White Elephants" there are two central
characters, and one central character who is inferred though never introduced. There is
one minor character who interacts with the first two and facilitates their interaction.
There are characters who are mentioned and provide insight into the character of the
American man but who have no discernible role in the
action.
Coming
back, he walked through the bar-room, where people waiting for the train were drinking.
He drank an Anis at the bar and looked at the people. They were all waiting reasonably
for the train.
The two
central characters are the American man and his girlfriend who is the only one who has a
name--she is called Jig.
readability="7">The American and the girl with him sat at a table
in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would
come in forty minutes.The
character who is inferred is the unborn baby of Jig's pregnancy. The minor character is
the woman who brings them their drinks through the symbolic beads that represent
separation or dividedness. The other characters are the people in the "bar-room" who are
"all waiting reasonably for the train."
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