Describe how Ben is characterized, and discuss whether the characterization was fashioned to serve the story vice versa?From "The Storm" by...

In McKnight Malmar's short story, "The Storm," Ben is
characterized as a man who is especially frugal (tight with money), who does not like to
talk about things he wishes to avoid (to the point that he gets "ugly"), and is "set in
his ways." It would seem, too, that he is private about certain aspects of his life:
gone from home for long periods of time, ostensibly traveling to and from
work.

The reader gets the sense that his wife, Janet, finds
security with Ben and generally likes his company, but she also feels sometimes as if
something is missing in their relationship.

In terms of
whether Ben's characterization was fashioned for the story, or the story fashioned for
Ben's character, it almost seems like a "chicken vs. the egg" question: which comes
first?

My personal opinion is that the story is fashioned
for Ben's characterization. Were it not for the characterization of Ben, the storm would
have been frightening by itself. However, even before Janet sees the body in the
basement, she already almost dreads Ben's return home, fearing he
will be in an ugly state of mind because he has received another letter from New York
City, which always puts him in a foul mood.

The story's
entire mood feeds off of the fact that there is a terrible storm, Janet is cut off from
the rest of the world, and she is petrified. However, what we know of Ben does not put
the reader's mind at ease when he arrives.

It is hard
not to connect the letters with the lady in the trunk,
not accidentally dressed in red, which makes us suspicious of the
kind of woman she was: if not a prostitute, certainly a woman very unlike the man Ben is
portrayed to be—stiff, structured, and stingy. Red gives way to a sense of passion,
flamboyance, and/or and wildness.

The sense of comfort we
expect from him does not come from Janet's description of him, or his behavior when he
arrives, but from Janet's expectations of Ben, believing that if he
is not in a bad mood, all will be well when he
arrives.

This brings up another question: since the letter
from New York City arrived only three days before, why is Ben
NOT miserable and angry as he usually
is? One can also not forget that Janet returns home one week early, unexpectedly. Ben
makes a fuss about how welcoming the lights are in the dark night, but they also alert
him, if he is indeed the murderer of the woman in red, that his secret may already have
been compromised, as IS the case.

All
of these details from the story that surround Ben's characterization lead me to believe
that the story was fashioned to serve Ben's characterization because so much of the
story revolves around Ben, and who he is.

What a
wonderfully, wicked, frightening, story!