Hotel World - Characters in "Hotel World"

Characters in "Hotel World"

Hotel World is told from the perspective of five different women who as fate would have it cross paths and in doing so affect each other’s lives through moments spent together. Each character is unique in that they each signify a different stage of the grieving process, a theme prevalent throughout the entire novel.

Sara Wilby – a teenage hotel chambermaid who has fallen to her death in a hotel dumbwaiter. She is the daughter to her parents Mr. and Mrs. Wilby, and also older sister to Clare.

Elspeth Freeman – an older homeless woman suffering from tuberculosis, she daily sits on the streets begging the people passing by to “spare some change.” When first introduced to the reader, Elspeth is referred to only as Else. The character of Else signifies anger, the second stage in the grieving process.

Lise – a receptionist for the Global Hotel, Lise was responsible for inviting Else, the homeless woman, to spend a night there.

Penny – A reporter and journalist, Penny is a paying guest to the Global Hotel, there to review its services.

Clare – the younger sister to Sara, Clare is not entirely introduced until the last section of the novel. Clare’s character signifies the final stage in the grieving process, that of acceptance.

Duncan – He was the sole witness to Sara’s death. As the novel’s only dominant male character, Duncan appears in each story within the novel. He too is moved to an emotional state of depression after witnessing the tragedy. Including Duncan in each of the novel’s stories, Smith seems to imply that these stages of grief may affect mere observers too, that these stages are not exclusive to family or close personal friends of those who have died.