So What Are You, Anyway?

Carole is a dynamic protagonist, and the narrator traces her external and internal experiences in third person limited over the course of the short story. Because the narrator is inhabiting Carole’s consciousness, the story’s central tensions, stakes, and resulting thematic explorations all originate from Carole’s evolving outlook on herself and the world around her.

At the outset of the short story, Carole’s scope of understanding is limited by her young age and innocence. For these reasons, when she leaves the Toronto airport and sets out on her journey to go and visit her grandparents, her greatest concerns are the comfortability of her seat and the wellbeing of her doll, Amy. The images of Carole examining herself in her mirror in the story’s first paragraph effectively reveal Carole’s innocent regard for herself. She does not scrutinize her appearance, but rather takes pride in it. She sees herself as someone with “dark eyes,” a “handful of freckles,” and a “clear complexion” (Paragraph 1). These facets of Carole’s appearance only remind her of her father’s affectionate description of her: “milk milk milk milk chocolate” (Paragraph 1). Carole therefore has no sense that her looks have any bearing on her identity or her circumstances.