Detailed character profiles - Geraldine

Geraldine  

*How would your character describe himself/herself?

 Geraldine would describe herself as trendy, young and up to date with everything. She always needs to be in control of the situation and thinks people should live the way she desires. She feels as though she's doing what’s best for the person when really it isn't.  

 

Geraldine would describe herself as being successful as she has a big house, doctor husband, two daughters and lots of money. Sophie at the start of the book would describe her mother as being a horrible, vain, jealous and a self-obsessed person, her sisters Fran and Monica would agree with this.  Sophie is quoted saying “at the time jealousy seemed to fit in well with the rest of my mother’s characters trait- she was obsessive, mean minded, controlling and vain… just to name a few.” but later in the book Sophie in her head is asked by Mr Schmidt if her mother is a horrible person where Sophie replies “I’ve portrayed her badly, I adore my mother.” This shows that Sophie deep down does love her mother but something has happened since being a teenager that has made her have this anger towards her.

* How would other characters describe this character? Try to include as many variations as possible and indicate why there might be differences between characters.

The words used but the other characters to describe Geraldine or when they are talking about her are quite nasty and very emotional showing that they have a problem with her. Monica thinks of Geraldine as being uninteresting. Fran doesn’t know what to make of Geraldine as she finds her very aggravating. This character does not have any positive relationships with other characters. Everyone at one time has been angry with her and find her hard to get along with. This character develops and so do her relationships with Sophie and Fran.

 Sophie- Sophie describes her mum as very controlling and stuck up. She believes her mum is very selfish and speaks her mind, not caring the outcome.

Fran- Fran believes her sister is very rude to others, plain and boring. She thinks she's is also, very stuck up.

 * How would you describe the relationships that this character has with others?

Geraldine doesn't have a strong relationship with either Fran nor Sophie. She has cut herself off from the majority of the family and really only cares about herself. This is why the others have those strong feelings towards her. She hasn't got any strong relationships because she's so self-centred and everything seems to revolve around her. 

 The relationships get better and improve as they start to understand Geraldine better.  On page 327 we are shown another side to Geraldine and how much she cares for her daughter. Geraldine has just seen Sophie for the first time after her being with Fran. She says “Could I just… hold you for a minute…”  This sheds a light on the way Geraldine has been feeling about this situation with her relationship with Sophie. This gives us the impression that she has missed and cares deeply about Sophie. Since Sophie has been away, Geraldine has had time to reflect on their relationship.

* What key themes does this character help the reader to understand?

 

Geraldine’s role in the novel gives readers an insight into how this family functions and the tension between the characters. Most of the anger from characters is pointed towards Geraldine. Geraldine helps the reader understand how she tries to stay strong but deep down she has a lot of problems herself which we don't find about until towards the end of the novel. Before that we only get Fran's, Sophie's and one stage, Amy's view of her but we were never really in Geraldine's shoes.