36 simply hate Carmen and define her as a bad person in the novel. Carmen plays a
static character from the beginning to the end of the novel. Foster 1974 defines flat or static character as the same sort of person at the end of the story as he or
she at the beginning p.53. Carmen constantly creates conflicts with Clare from the beginning to the end of the story.
To get better understanding of Carmen’s characters, the characterization theory should be applied in analyzing Carmen in the novel. Murphy 1972
describes nine ways to reveal the characterization of the characters which were made in attempts to be understandable and alive for the reader p.161. The
following are Carmen’s characterization reviewed through Murphy’s nine ways of characterization:
a. Beautiful and Stylish
In Murphy’s ways of characterization 1972, studying other characters’ opinion is one way to analyze a character p.162. When describing her family,
Clare describes Carmen as a beautiful Jamaican woman, “Carmen, my mother. George called her Carmel. She has a very slim figure and was stunningly
beautiful. She looked more like a film star than a mother. Her skin was coffee- coloured.” Briscoe, p.8; ch.1.
Carmen knows her own beauty and loves to delve in it. It can be seen through her speech p.164, as one of Murphy’s way of characterization 1972.
When she met her sisters, who were asking about how she was doing, her response, as quoted from Clare’s description, was simply: ‘“Let me look good,’”
Briscoe, p.139; ch.9. It should be noted that she said that while marveling at her
37 own appearance. It can be concluded that she enjoys looking at herself and
admiring her own beauty. She considers her style and fashion as the most important points to
enhance her beauty. One of Murphy’s ways of characterization is personal description 1972, judging the character from hisher appearance p.161. It can
be seen from Clare’s explanation about Carmen. She mentions how stylish Carmen is, “My mother had a lot of pretty dresses for herself – they had bright
patterns on them, particularly roses. She had exquisite dresses for every occasion.” Briscoe, p.12; ch.1
b. Bad-Tempered and Cruel
Carmen has a very bad-tempered. She can easily get angry because of the smallest mistake. When she is not in good mood, she can get mad at the simplest
things. Take, for example, her treatment towards Bem. Bem is a lodger in Carmen’s house. He is an old man whom George and Carmen have known in
Jamaica and he knows everything that is going on in Briscoe’s family. It is said that, “He witnessed Carmen’s treatment to Clare and her fights with George”
Briscoe, p.10; ch.1. He is often in the middle of Carmen’s and George’s fight but he does not take side.
When Carmen and George had a fight, Bem had decided not to get involved and not to give evidence for one side or the other, Carmen asked
him to leave, saying he was a traitor of immense proportion and had betrayed her. George collected him and he went to live in one of my dad’s
other houses Briscoe, p.45; ch.3.
38 Bem had to suffer Carmen’s temper, even though he did nothing bad against
Carmen. Carmen’s reaction towards Bem’s not taking sides reveals her character as analyzed through one of Murphy’s way of characterization 1972, reaction
p.168. After Bem leaves the house, Carmen’s treatment to Clare becomes worse
and worse. Briscoe writes, “Once we were not living with them and Bem, my mother was on her worst behaviour. She would shout at me all the time and punch
and beat me for any no-good reason. Her temper got shorter and shorter.” Briscoe, p.45; ch.3
Carmen has a problem in controlling her emotion. She has to express it out in a bad and cruel way towards whoever is close to her. In Murphy’s ways of
characterization 1972, mannerism can be applied to describe a character p.173. Carmen’s bad-tempered is shown when she is frustrated with taking care of her
children, and she usually expresses her emotional outbursts to Clare and to her husband.
My mother now had twins and she directed her anger and frustration toward us. Whereas before she would shout and argue with my father, she
now shouted at us, punching me in the back more often than usual, each time I went past. Briscoe, p.31; ch.2
When she is not satisfied with what she gets, she can easily lose her temper and when she loses her temper, she feels that it is okay to hurt people. She
fights with George a lot, and even when George does something good for her, if she is not satisfied, and she will hurt him still. One Saturday morning in July,
George comes to the house bringing two large chickens for his family. He greets
39 his children and Carmen in a nice way. He does not do anything wrong, but
Carmen does not like him bringing only two chickens, so she gets angry and throws the chickens back at George, “You come here and the best you can do is
bring two dead chickens. What do you expect me to do with two dead chickens?” Briscoe, p.18; ch.2
Carmen gets very angry because she expects something better from George and she cannot appreciate what is given. George tells her to behave,
ignores her and starts to sing. This infuriates Carmen and drives her to be even crueler.
‘La de bloody da,’ she said, and lunged at him. He fell backwards on top of me, and when I tried to help him up, his stomach was covered in blood
and there was blood all over my pretty dress. ‘You want dead? You want dead this day?’ She said, and raised the pair of
scissors above her head again. Briscoe, p.18 – p.19; ch.2
Her attitude is twice cruel with Clare. One of her idea to help Clare to not wet herself at night is by not letting her have dinner.
When I asked my mother where my dinner was, she said that if I were to eat it, it would go through too quickly and I would wet the bed. She then
picked up my orange juice and drank it in one go. Then she put the empty glass back down on the table in front of me. ‘You’ll have a dry night
tonight,’ she said. Briscoe, p.49; ch.3
And yet, it is not all. One time, she tells Clare to gather some peppermint leaves from outside because she wants a cup of peppermint tea. After they have
finished their dinner, Clare is told to clean the table and to wash the plates, although she has not eaten at all. The cruelty still continued no matter how Clare
