Characters

 Emma Morle (Em)


A working class girl of principle and ambition who dreams of making the world a better place.

At the start of the novel Emma has just graduated from university and is trying to figure out what to do with her life, a struggle many probably find familiar. She ends up working in a run down restaurant and her life appears to be stuck in a rut when, instead of finding another job, she advances to a managing position at the restaurant she’s trying to escape. All of these is contrasted with Dexter, who at the same time is having a blossoming carreer in television. It may seem like Emma is just on the wrong side of the line between “people who really don’t have a choice” and “people who are too busy being miserable to realize they have the potential to change their lives”, making her a slightly sad character, wasting away her obvious talents at a job she resents. However, this is not the case, Emma has enough dignity to know when enough is enough. It may have taken her a few years but she eventually figures out what she wants in life.She is Displaying this behaviour as opposed to many other female charachers who relentlessly continue to pine after some guy despite having been treated badly, often just for the sake of wanting to have a boyfriend, is yet another example of what makes her a very refreshing female character. She’s very much her own person who doesn’t need others to define her, especially not a boyfriend.

















Dexter Mayhew (Dex)


A wealthy charmer who dreams that the world will be his playground.His character is built up throughout the book. He has a good picture of him right from the very beginning. He did well at university, which is where the story starts, and is about to go travelling. This immediately conjures up the picture that he wants to avoid working for as long as possible. When he is asked what he wants to be when he is forty, he answers ‘famous’.
He is expressed both through his appearance and through his lifestyle. Girls are a big thing in his life and he has a new one on the go constantly. As the story is told over several years, the names of the girls aren’t always mentioned, but you know this because Emma says that she doesn’t recall the name of every girl that he’s met because there are too many.Dexter’s lifestyle is completely the opposite of Emma’s, and he drinks far too much. There are many references to his drinking problem and although this is not pin pointed straight away, there are several episodes in the book where it becomes apparent that alcohol is over coming his way of life. He visits his dying mother one year and sleeps for the whole day that he is there because he has had too much to drink. And on his big live TV appearance, he again drinks too much and stumbles through the entire show. His life is being depicted as being a mess and that he is a failure. His parents are disappointed in him and when his mum dies, his dad gives him the cold shoulder. The public hate him and he becomes famous, but for the wrong reason. The only thing that is keeping him going in life is Emma. He distances himself from all those who mean anything to him and when Emma tries to tell him that she fancies him it is met with rejection. He is made out to be someone who has thrown their life away when actually they are really clever.

Dexter brings a big character to the book being the complete opposite of Emma, so they compliment each other quite well.