Character Analysis
Trissie, like the young man, is a figure in the "prime of youth" (19). She's also anxious and awkward in her interactions, but at the same time, really, really excited to be with this cute guy in the garden. Even her voice is marked with "the oddest thrill of excitement" (28). Unlike the young man, she doesn't have such a sense of urgency. While he wants to draw her forward down the path, she longs to linger and enjoy the garden, "turning her head this way and that way, forgetting her tea, wishing to go down there and then down there, remembering orchids and cranes among wild flowers, a Chinese pagoda and a crimson crested bird" (28). She wants to explore and enjoy the natural world, but he takes control (think: gender roles), and off she disappears down the garden path.