Margot

Margot is the central character/protagonist. She is a 20-year-old college student who works at an arthouse movie theatre. Margot’s central characteristic is her persistence in privileging the perspective of Robert over her own perspective. This personality trait is representative of a wider situation in modern American society wherein women are encouraged to put other people’s feelings ahead of their own, but men are not encouraged to do so to the same extent in return. As a result of this, despite feeling uncomfortable and unhappy throughout her encounter with Robert, Margot invests her time and energy in trying to soothe Robert and ensure that nothing happens to make him unhappy, in the course of which Margot makes several choices that make her unhappy.

Throughout the story, Margot views events from the perspective of what they are likely to make Robert think about her, rather than how...