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1. Physical Description
As written in the novel The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, David Henry describes Caroline as a blue-eyed woman with a pale face. In defining Caroline’s
physical description, the theory employed is by Abrams 1999 who states that character can be interpreted by his dialogue and action p. 33-34. It bears out that
both dialogue and action are completed one another. In this case, Kim Edwards employs David Henry’s thought to portray her physical description. David Henry
makes his judgment after looking at Caroline. The nurse met them. The moment he saw her, he knew something was
wrong. She had large blue eyes in a pale face that might have been forty or twenty-five, and whenever something was not to her liking a thin vertical
line formed across her forehead, just between her eyes. 14
Beside she has blue eyes and pale face, the narrator describes Caroline as a tall, thin, and angular woman. The description is stated clearly in the first chapter of
this novel. “The nurse nodded. She was tall. So thin and angular it seemed the bones might poke from beneath her skin at any moment. Her large blue eyes were
solemn and intelligent” 15. In addition, to describe her appearance, Caroline’s age is also stated in this
novel which is in her thirties. It is noted by the narrator. “For Caroline Gill was thirty-one, and she had been waiting a long time for her real life to begin” 31.
2. Personality Description a. Responsible
This personality description is stated clearly in this novel. According to Klarer 1999, explanatory characterization telling describes a person through a
narrator p. 19. Caroline’s first duty is to bring the baby to the institution chosen
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by David Henry. After arriving to the institution, she is not sure that the place is worth living in. Because of the bad condition of the building and how people are
treated there, Caroline refuses to leave Phoebe there and choose to keep her for sometimes. Carolines responsibility is shown by her own thought and action
when she gets a chance to leave her everywhere but she does not do it. She prefers to take Phoebe with her while she thinks about what she is going to do with the
infant. She picked her way though the slush, afraid of falling and hurting the
baby, thinking at the same time, fleetingly, how easy it would be to simply leave her, in a garbage Dumpster or on the steps of a church or anywhere.
Her power over this tiny life was total. A deep sense of responsibility flooded through her, making her light-headed. 42
After raising Phoebe and moving to Pittsburgh, she is married to a good man and has a new life with this family. She decides to write letters to David Henry
continuously to tell Phoebe’s growth. When David Henry passed away, she took the risk by coming to Norah Henry’s house and telling her that Phoebe is still
alive. This decision portrays Caroline’s responsibility not separating the daughter and her mother. She wants Norah to know that her daughter is healthy. From
Caroline’s words, the showing method is used to judge Caroline’s character which is responsible as seen in her action. “Look, I’m sorry,” Caroline said. “I don’t
know how to say this. There isn’t an easy way, I suppose, so I’ll just come out with it. Norah, that night when your twins were born, Phoebe and Paul, there was
a problem” 469. For some people, telling the truth is hard to do. Moreover, this is a very
big secret from a long time ago. Caroline is different. She thinks that she really
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