Question

draw a character sketch of: a)John Hallock b)Lavinia c)Gladolia d)Laura

Answer 1

Character sketch of Mr. John Hallock

Mr. John Hallock is a simple middle-class person who works as a bookkeeper for a lumber company and somehow pays for the grocery bills and his wife’s shopping habits. He also writes some ghost stories to supplement his meager income and has been so far. He belongs to that class of husbands who have grudges against their bullying wives but never retaliate. He is quite honest in his profession. He works hard in keeping the accounts of his company and also tries to produce good, amusing ghost stories. He is also quite confident about his writing skills.

Character Sketch of Lavinia

Lavinia is the wife of a middle class bookkeeper and story writer, Mr. John Hallock. She is a spendthrift and has a craze for shopping and a tendency to buy every new fad has reached an alarming state, although their financial condition is not so strong. Lavinia is a dominating kind of woman who hardly cares about her husband’s instructions and despite his protests, retains the Ouija Board and does not return it. She is also somewhat suspicious about women and doesn’t want even the ghost of Helen of Troy to be called upon the board. Lavinia is a social woman too, and enjoys the company of the women of her Book Club. She doesn’t want Gladolia to leave her house and for her sake, she is even ready to burn the Ouija Board.



 Character sketch on Gladolia

Gladolia is a cook at Mrs. and Mr. Hallock’s house. She is an African woman, which is quite obvious from the English she speaks. Her regional dialect has a great influence on her pronunciation.  She is a simple woman who is quite scared of magic and Ouija Board. She decides to leave the narrator’s house because of the Ouija board row, but later on when her master, the narrator assures her of burning the board, she cancels her decision of leaving the house.


Character sketch of Miss Laura Hinkle

Miss Laura Hinkle is a flirtatious and coquettish woman. Once the Ouija board starts responding to her, she becomes very much interested in it. She takes extreme pleasure in knowing the details about the narrator from the board. She brings Lavinia’s attention to the fact that the Ouija board was communicating with her husband suspiciously.