What is the characterization of the story "In the Cemetry where Al Jolson is Buried"?Characters

This is an incredibly moving and sad story. The tale
features two characters, both of whom are unnamed. Firstly there is the dying friend
that the narrator visits. Her attempt to confront and accept her approaching death is a
major struggle for her. The first line of the story, "Tell me the things I won't mind
forgetting," thus creates the impetus for the story that follows. She does try to
realistically approach the reality of her mortality, as is shown by the reference to
Kubler-Ross and the stages of acceptance of death. She also displays considerable humour
in confronting her own death, as is shown by her asking for "Anything.. except for a
magazine subscription" and when she places the telephone cord around her neck and says,
"the End o' the Line." However, what she is unable to face with humour is the narrator's
refusal to spend the night with her. In response to this she throws her mask to the
floor and lurches out of her Isolation Ward. She is not able to accept this betrayal
from her best friend, as she sees it.

The narrator shows
herself to be a character that tries to avoid things she is afraid of. We know that she
has deliberately put off visiting her friend, and her refusal to spend the night with
her is as much about her own fear of death and the situation as anything else. When she
understands the intention of her friend, she says to herself, "She wants every minute...
She wants my life." Note too the way that she likes to flee from situations. When she
leaves her "Best Friend" for the last time, she recognises that she "could not even
offer to come back." Yet she also admits that she feels "exhilirated" by the life that
she can return to and her friend cannot live anymore. Although she seems to be
superficial and shallow in the way that she remembers only useless information and the
rather callous way she leaves her friend, the last paragraph shows that she is beginning
to accept and grow in her understanding of grief:

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Baby, come hug, Baby, come hug, fluent now in the
language of grief.

Her
attempt to master her Fear of Flying and the finishing of the story of the chimp at
least shows us that she is a character that has grown through the experience, even
though perhaps complete maturity is a long way off.