On Tidy Endings is a story that expresses true emotional and dramatic feelings about the death of a character in the story by the name of Collin. The story is told through the eyes of not one but two people who were in love with this deceased character at some point in their life. The names of these two main characters are Marion, who was Collin's ex-wife of sixteen years, and Arthur who was Collin's lover of three years. The focus of this paper is aimed at the individual whom I feel more sympathy for and that would be Arthur. I feel empathetic for Arthur simply because he was closer to Collin at the time of his passing and I can understand how it feels when you wake up to someone everyday and suddenly they are gone and your whole life changes. .
Physical characteristics about Arthur are not very many but from what we read, we can draw an image of him. He is a man roughly in his mid-thirties. Although he is dressed sloppily in his work clothes, he is still pleasant-looking. Also, he is slightly overweight. These combinations together tell me that he probably does not care about personal appearances at this point in his life or is still depressed. He has gained weight and looks sloppy. The statement that says he is pleasant looking tells me that he has not gone completely down the drain and stopped caring about how he looks. Chances are that he usually weighs an average amount and dresses neatly but since he is down, he doesn't care about weight and looks right now. Having said all of this, Marion managed to find him adorable. Although she saw that he could have used a few nights of sleep to rejuvenate because of the rings under his eyes, she saw him as handsome as well.
Arthur's emotional and personality characteristics according to others are somewhat varied when it comes to Marion and June, who is more than likely Marion's lawyer and also her personal friend. June feels that Arthur really shouldn't receive anything now that Collin has passed.