Narrator:

The narrator is the I person narrator, he is an intrusive omniscient narrator: he knows everything about the facts and he influences our vision of events. The reader couldn't have a personal opinion of the facts.

Textual references:

They were...

But it is never easy...

Storyline:

Edward and Florence are two English guys, both young (they are 22 years old) and inexperienced of the world. They had been married in an Oxford's church (the St. Mary's), and went to an hotel in the Dorset on Chesil beach, to spend their honeymoon.

The biggest problem between the couple is their difficulty to speak each others, Edward didn't tell Florence of his fear approaching with her and Florence didn't say to Edward of his terror of the sexual approach with him, they are separately worried.

Also the setting is suitable to convey the feelings of the couple: the weather fits the situation, they want to have a walk on the beach but the weather is good.

Characters:

The characters of the novel are Edward and Florence, they are two English guys. They come form two different social ranges, we understand that from some book's references: Edward did not mention that he had never stayed in an hotel before, whereas Florence, after many trips as a child was an old hand. This extract underlines clearly the social differences between the two guys. Florence belongs to a high social range, she often attends hotels, her mother has a car and she plays the violin, Edward had never been to an hotel before, another aspect that points out this difference is the ‘opposition' of Florence's parents to their relation. References to the text: Her parents had not condescended to his, as they had feared, and his mother had not significantly misbehaved, or completely forgotten the purpose of the occasion.

Florence and Edward are both naïve, inexperienced of the world and rich in expectations: they think that their wedding could gave them a place in the society.

Edward thinks also that now, being married, he could have a physical contact with Florence, but she has fear,she didn't want to be penetrated, she loves Edward like a mother loves a son.

Setting:

The book is set in Dorset (a country in East England on the English channel coast), on Chesil beach. The two weds are on honeymoon in an hotel on the coast, in the first chapter the references on space regard to some places in the hotel: the corridor, the sitting room and the terrace.

The time of the setting is the sixties, a time when a conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly impossible.