Characterization Of Miss Hancock In Budge Wilson's The Metaphor

Characterization of Miss Hancock

Life is a series of experiences in which each one of us grows into the individual we are now. Every move, each word and thought shapes our person.

Stories are the same. Their actions and reactions, the dialogue and their attitude morph a character. The short story, “The Metaphor,” by Budge Wilson, engulfs its pages with a colorful woman named Miss Hancock, one of the main characters. She is presented through both indirect and direct presentation. Miss Hancock is defined as the “plump and unmarried and overenthusiastic […] teacher of literature and creative writing.” She decorated her face and body “nearly as always flamboyant as her nature,” showing off her “luminous frosted lipstick” and “brightly, aggressively,

“This is an indirect presentation of the woman with “an excess of zeal.” Miss Hancock is a strange yet charming character, who is classified as both round and dynamic. Miss Hancock is flashy, bizarre, with “too much enthusiasm.” But she is more than simply that. After a discussion on “The Metaphor”, she asks Charlotte talk about her own metaphor on her mother. Here, a different side of her is shown. “She

Miss Hancock, her personality and beliefs were contrasted entirely by her character foil, Charlotte’s mother, “this civilized, this clean, this disciplined woman.” All through Charlotte’s life, her mother dictated her every move. A “small child [was] a terrible test to that cool and orderly spirit.” Her mother was “lovely to look at, with her dark-blond hair, her flawless figure, her smooth hands. She never acted frazzled or rushed or angry, and her forehead was unmarked by age lines or worry. Even her appearance differed greatly to Miss Hancock, who she described as,” overdone, too much enthusiasm. Flamboyant. Orange hair.” The discrepancy between the characters couldn’t escape Charlotte’s writing, her metaphors. Her seemingly perfect mother was “a flawless, modern building, created of glass and the smoothest of pale concrete. Inside are business offices furnished with beige carpets and gleaming chromium. In every room there are machines – computers, typewriters, intricate copiers. They are buzzing and clicking way, absorbing and spitting out information with the speed of sound. Downstairs, at ground level, people walk in and out, tracking mud and dirt over the steel-grey tiles, marring the cool perfection of the building. There are no comfortable chairs in the lobby.” By description, her mother is fully based on ideals and manners, aloof, running her life with “sure and perfect control.” Miss