Modern prose and drama – November 2021

How do writers present characters learning about themselves and others in‘Invisible Mass of the Back Row’ and in one other story in Telling Tales?

• what the characters learn about themselves and others in the two stories
• how the writers present characters learning about themselves and others.

Both “The Fly in the Ointment” and “Invisible Mass of the Back Row” by V.S. Pritchett and Kate Atkinson include characters who discover new things about themselves and others through unexpected situations. The characters learn new things about themselves, other people, and their surroundings as a result of these events.

The protagonist of “Invisible Mass of the Back Row,” Ellen, is a middle-aged lady who has always felt inconsequential and invisible. But when she goes to a class reunion, she bumps into an old friend named Gerry who gives her a fresh perspective on herself. Ellen discovers that she is not as invisible as she believed and that she can take charge of her life through Gerry’s motivating words and deeds.