Narrator
The narrator is an unnamed white woman who works for a public housing centre in Australia. The narrator is portrayed in the story as being both well-intentioned and at times biased and ignorant. She writes…
read analysis of Narrator
Mandy
Mandy is one of the two white artists working on the mural, along with her boyfriend Jake. While Mandy seems generally to be nice and hardworking, the story shows how such traits are…
read analysis of Mandy
Jake
Jake is the other white artist working on the mural, along with his girlfriend Mandy. Like Mandy, he seems like a friendly person who is uninterested in or unaware of the work necessary…
read analysis of Jake
Minister
The minister is a local Australian political figure who the mural is intended to impress. What he thinks of the mural seems to be the chief concern of the centre’s leaders regarding whether or not…
read analysis of Minister
Parking Inspector
The parking inspector tries to give the narrator a ticket when she is overdue in her parking spot. She successfully manages to talk him out of it by commenting about how she has parked in…
read analysis of Parking Inspector
Get the entire White Spirit LitChart as a printable PDF.
Jameela
Jameela is one of the women in thenarrator’s fabric-painting class. She is kind to the narrator and patient with the narrator’s requests regarding the women in the class’s attendance at the unveiling of…
read analysis of Jameela
Minor Characters
Pro-Guard Representative
A man from the company Pro-Guard who comes to sell an anti-graffiti sealant called white spirit to protect the mural. He is primarily concerned with treating the mural as a commodity to be protected from damages and with selling a product to the narrator.
Centre Manager
The centre manager is the narrator’s boss. Like the minister, he shows little interest in actually getting to know the communities who live at the centre and instead seems mostly concerned with making the institution itself look good—sometimes with negative consequences for the residents.
Nahir
Nahir is one of the women in thenarrator’s fabric-painting class. She points out one of the artists, Mandy, and notes how her appearance (her piercings, specifically) stick out.
The Other Residents
The other residents of the public housing centre include: the children living in the complex, some of whom are shown playing soccer and others shown playing basketball; the other women in the narrator’s fabric painting class; and the Vietnamese women shown serving food to guests at the opening celebration.
