Analysis of Characters in Runaway

Runaway is a contemporary short story written by Alice Ann Laidlaw who won the Nobel Prize in 2013.This article aims to analyze the different personalities of three protagonists in this story. In addition， the common personality of them is also put forward combined with the history background of Canada in the middle of 20th century.

1. Carla

Carla is a young woman who has married a man with bad temper. This article summaries five aspects of her personality. Firstly， her personality is contradicted which is mixed with hesitation， frustration， dismay， and confusion. In the round of escaping and returning， her inner conflict showed around the corner intensely and dramatically. During the time from which she got on the bus to call he husband to pick her up home， her contradicted trait has been manifested apparently. Secondly， she is perceptual and irrational. Because of the loss of a sheep， she became depressed. This was common things in life to common people， but it has great impact on her inner emotions. She can not treat this rationally， just like an immature child. Moreover， she made the choice of escaping without any preparation， which revealed her irrational thought. At last， she returned to her husband and was ready to continue to endure all sorts of his bad attitudes towards her， which also showed her uncertainty of her inner mind. Thirdly， she is emotional easily. Before escaping from her husband， she bursted into tears in front of Sylvia and complained about the bad behavior of her husband. Therefore， she desired to escape from this kind of painful life. Sylvia made her every effort to help Carla out of trouble. But she got off the bus on the midway and came back to her husband. The momentary sadness of Carla was enough to manifest that she was emotional easily. Finally， she is conservative and traditional. The “escape” of Carla was not aimless； she always had her own coordinate which was the point of leaving. But the place that she returned was still the original place of her spirit. Furthermore， she accepted the “horse” of Sylvia， which reflected her remained traits of traditional woman. And her returning to her husband just confirmed this point accurately.

2. Clark

Clark is a young man who is the husband of Carla. This article summaries three aspects of him. Firstly， he is irrational， impulse and preoccupied. He often quarreled with others for trivial things. For example， she would argue with others for a long time because of the disorder of the queue. Meanwhile， he would be angry with waiters or waitresses if the discounted breakfast was out of date. What is worse， he would fight with those who owed money to him. Secondly， he is rude and roguish. For example， he offended his boss， his wife， Carla， mediated for him. However， he was not grateful to his wife， but he was indifferent to his wife without any communication. In addition， the words he spoke out in the dialogue also showed his rudeness. For example， “‘you flare up， Carla said. ‘Thats what men do. Kara said”.

3. Sylvia

Sylvia is an aged woman. She is the neighbor of Carla. It was her that help Carla escape from Kara. This article summaries two aspects of her. Firstly， she was full of the flavor of modern. Through the story， we know that she had her own careers， knowledge， ideas and went to Greece to go on a vacation. All these fully revealed her pursuit of freedom and her love of life. Secondly， she is helpful and sympathetic. After hearing the painful life of Carla， she tried her best to make plans to help Carla leave her husband.

4. The common personality of the couple

The dialogues between Carla and Kara do not have any particular meaning and purpose， but it led to contradictions and conflicts in those conversations which are of no significance. For example， “Just dont be mad at me，” “Im not mad. I hate when youre like this， thats all.” “Im like this because youre mad.” “Dont tell me what I am. Youre choking me. ”

All in all， the personalities are impacted by the certain period. Analyzing the characters， we can roughly divide them into two represents. Carla and Sylvia represent the interest of the female. Kara represents the interest of the male. According to the history， feminism and male chauvinism both are prevailing during the 20th century in Canada， and therefore the traits of the protagonists in the story also crossed to each other in addition to their different traits.

作者簡介：陳芳芳（1990.07-），女，漢，安徽，碩士，研究方向：翻譯理論與實踐。