The Company Representative / The Stranger Character Analysis

The company representative visits Mr. White and Mrs. White to tell them their son Herbert is dead. He represents the company that owns the factory where Herbert worked before he was killed in a machinery accident. When he speaks, he is visibly uncomfortable, and awkward and indirect in his speech, so much so that it takes the Whites a few moments to realize that their son is dead. The representative states that he only came to the Whites because his company asked him to, and that the company takes no responsibility for Herbert’s death. In his cold and formal attitude, the representative shows the exploitative, inhumane nature of industrialization and the capitalist factory owners, who do not really care about the violent deaths of their workers.