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Tommy Castelli
The girl is 10 years old, and Tommy describes her physical appearance as plain but sharp; she has pale skin contrasted by very dark eyes. She is a weekly customer of Tommy and Rosa Castelli, and she purchases colored tissue paper for her mother every Monday. However, each time she makes this purchase, she also steals two chocolate bars from the store. Each time Tommy attempts to subtly correct this habit, she either ignores his warnings or does not notice them, continuing to steal the chocolate. Before he realizes she is stealing, Tommy assumes that the girl hangs back by the candy jars out of fear; later, he also assumes she will be fearful of him if he were to call out her stealing directly. However, the only time the girl appears afraid is when Rosa catches her stealing, making her face look “sickly.” This fear seems short-lived, as the girl sticks her tongue out at Tommy as her mother drags her out of the store. Her sassy response to Tommy’s presence reveals her likely indifference toward any reform he might have given her. Due to her mother’s apparent abuse, the girl likely distrusts adults in her life and feels skepticism toward Tommy’s attempts at empathy.
The Girl Quotes in The Prison
The The Prison quotes below are all either spoken by The Girl or refer to The Girl. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Prison Quotes
He felt at first like grabbing her by the neck and socking till she threw up, but he had been caught, as he sometimes was, by this thought of how his Uncle Dom, years ago before he went away, used to take with him Tony alone of all the kids, when he went crabbing to Sheepshead Bay.
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He found himself thinking about the way his life had turned out, and then about this girl, moved that she was so young and a thief. He felt he ought to do something for her, warn her to cut it out before she got trapped and fouled up her life before it got started. His urge to do this was strong, but when he went forward she looked up frightened because he had taken so long. The fear in her eyes bothered him and he didn’t say anything.
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He kept trying to make the desire to speak to her go away, but it came back stronger than ever. He asked himself what difference does it make if she swipes candy—so she swipes it; and the role of the reformer was strange and distasteful to him, yet he could not convince himself that what he felt he must do was unimportant.
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Afterwards, he told himself that he hadn’t spoken to her because it was while she still had the candy on her, and she would have been scared worse than he wanted. When he went upstairs, instead of sleeping, he sat at the kitchen window, looking out into the back yard. He blamed himself for being too soft, too chicken, but then he thought, no there was a better way to do it. He would do it indirectly, slip her a hint he knew, and he was pretty sure that would stop her. Sometime after, he would explain her why it was a good idea she had stopped.
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The girl, like a grotesque dancer, half ran, half fell forward, but at the door she managed to turn her white face and thrust out at him her red tongue.
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The Girl Character Timeline in The Prison
The timeline below shows where the character The Girl appears in The Prison. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Prison
One morning, a 10-year-old girl enters the candy store to buy two rolls of tissue paper for her mother, who...
(full context)
...and Tommy can see the front of the store when they retrieve products. When the girl comes in for the first time since the mirror’s installation, Tommy notices her movements in...
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After the girl leaves, Tommy’s desire to warn her to stop thieving grows stronger and stronger. He tries...
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The next Monday, Tommy feels so anxious about confronting the girl that he has already smoked a whole pack of cigarettes before opening the candy store....
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After the girl leaves, Tommy reflects on his inability to confront her. When he is done at the...
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...Tommy is caught up thinking about something, but he does not tell her about the girl, even when she asks why he is eating so much chocolate. Rosa grows suspicious that...
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By Monday, a few days after crafting his plan, Tommy is impatient for the girl to arrive. However, she does not appear. After waiting a long time for her arrival,...
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...is yelling. As he shoves through the crowd, he sees that Rosa has caught the girl stealing the chocolates. Rosa is shaking the girl and yelling at her, and Tommy rips...
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Tommy orders the girl to go home, but her mother enters the candy store before she can move. When...
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