Same Character - Different Setting Exercise

Emily Rosen

An English Garden, 1930

• If is 16, was born at the beginning of world war one.
• Can still be a maid, but what if her family was rich and are hit by the crash - hard?
• Perhaps she uses her ingrained handiness to steal from the still-rich and bring it home to her family?
• Would still be close to them, as wouldn’t have been sent off to earn money.

Emily pushed open the garden gate, glad that the rich still oiled them nowadays. It opened smoothly, without waking the dogs lying in the corner. You’d think that instead of expensive lazy dogs, people would just let their gates rust a little. But anyways, it was easier for her this way.

Walking silently in her broken down shoes, she made her way over to the small vegetable patch in the corner. She began grabbing the ripe carrots, lettuces, and tomatoes - not enough that the owners would suspect anything more than a very hungry rabbit, but just enough to make a good hearty soup for a family dinner. Shoving them into an old flour sack, made her way back to the gate, the lazy mutts none the wiser.

She exited the garden and closed the gate once more. The evening wind blew hard against Emily’s cheeks, making her wish for a warm fire, or at least a better jacket. She pulled her gloves out of her pocket and put them on, making fists to protect the exposed tips that had worn through the woollen fingers. She hated the itchiness of the gloves, mostly because they reminded her when her owned a pair made of good silk, which she wore to her mother’s garden parties. They had to be sold long ago, to help pay rent. She pulled her scarf tighter around her neck and began to make her way back home.

Remote Mountain Town, Current Day

• She is very naturally curious -  she would not be happy in a quiet town, especially if she had lived there her whole life.
• Would still be helping her family with chores, but would be a little bitter about it.
• Would love the idea of school, but perhaps be 
• She would be saving in secret for a bus ticket out of there and hopefully to a better school.

Brooklyn, New York, 1965

• School would be her favourite thing, but would possibly be angry about having to learn about Home Ec instead of Industrial Arts.
• Would be unhappy with both the homemaker role her parents expected of her and the other career options available to her, like receptionists, nurses, ext. 
• Would probably be heavily involved in women's rights and known as a bit of a rebellious child.

Sydney, Aus, 2014

• Would have just moved from England?
• Bit of a tomboy, but maybe has a part-time job with a cleaning crew in a business building?
• Maybe is having trouble making friends because of her prickliness?