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Character Analysis for Callie Pax in Stop Kiss by Diana Son....

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STOP KISS Character Analysis of Callie Pax Full name: Callie Pax  Cisgender female  Late 20s  Average weight or less; lives in New York City and has to walk around to get anywhere  Doesn’t own a car  Likes to dance to 70s music  Fairly messy  Is taking care of Caesar, Sara’s cat, since Sara isn’t allowed to have pets at her apartment  Sara is a friend of a friend who is moving to New York City for a teaching fellowship  Has lived in New York City for 11 years  Thinks Quaker schools are ridiculous  Moved to New York City for college  Traffic reporter for a 24-hour news radio station  Only keeps her job because it’s a living  She has lived in her current apartment for five years, but has only lived alone in the apartment for two years.  She moved into the apartment with her boyfriend Tom  The apartment belonged to Tom’s aunt for twenty years before Tom and Callie moved in  Callie got to keep the apartment when Tom left her for her sister and the two moved happily to Los Angeles  Believes New York City is “impossible to live in”  She grew up in a tiny town upstate which she calls a “countrified suburb” with a tractor display in the middle of the mall  She can’t connect with nature  Her sister played the saxophone  She hates her sister  Planned to go to a small college but her guidance counselor filled out an application for her to go to New York University  Owns a Magic eight ball  Knows a lot of good and cheap restaurants to eat in New York City  Wants to be there for Sara when she wakes up from her coma  Firm believer in the concept of “the best thing to do is walk on by” when it comes to confrontation  Northern New York dialect  Considers the people at her job to be a bunch of stiffs  All of her friends are friends she made in college who stuck together  Callie and George are essentially Friends With Benefits who date other people, but she says they’ll probably end up getting married unless one of them settles down soon  Believes in marriage, happily ever after, and being together forever  On Thursdays and Saturdays at 6:00PM, her upstairs neighbor makes a rhythmic clomping noise and she says she thinks he teaches horses to river dance, but won’t confront her neighbor about the nuisance

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She always leaves her apartment when the noise starts and makes sure to stay out for about an hour until it’s over She doesn’t want to upset other people by telling the off Wants to impress Sara Thinks Sara’s kind of a nutcase for teaching in the Bronx Often pays for Sara and George’s meals at restaurants Wouldn’t change someone’s toilet paper roll if they had it underhand instead of waterfall Would swerve to miss hitting something in the road, but says she would straddle Her ex-boyfriend Tom’s uncle got Callie her job at the station where she works She rides around in a helicopter and tells people New York City has tons of traffic (as her job) Offers to let Sara stay on the pull-out couch She buys secondhand furniture for cheap Likes her feet covered when she sleeps Worried about Sara because she ends up in a coma Tells George that when she would good night to Sara, she really wanted to kiss her Can’t cook worth a damn Hates her job but can’t really get another one Remembers Sara’s feet get hot when she sleeps so she uncovers Sara’s feet in the hospital Doesn’t want people to think she’s dating Sara in the beginning if Sara wears her clothes Deli guy calls her blueberry muffin lady Doesn’t want to pay for Evian water so she buys Deer Park water and Dos Equis beer Not an athlete and awful at tennis Got an award for traffic reporting Has never felt attracted to a woman before she met Sara Tells her upstairs neighbor to shut up to impress Sara Wants the nurses to make Sara better and do everything they can but understands they’re still doing a good job Visits Sara in the hospital every day Wants to dress nice to meet Sara’s ex Screwed a guy with a nose ring in the bathroom of a party without protection once upon a time Tells George everything Fell in love with Sara Bisexual Knows West Village is gay paradise Wants Sara to stay in New York with her because Sara worked so hard to get out of St. Louis and knows Sara doesn’t want to go back Sarcastic and sassy Eats corn on the cob typewriter-style Waits on line versus in line Play written about the late 1990s in New York City

I like my character as a person because she’s funny and sarcastic. She’s relatable because she offers to pay for her friend’s meals (whether or not she can actually afford it) and ignores people

when they’re being obnoxious assholes, instead of provoking them further. She lives by the motto “the best thing to do is walk on by.” She grew up in upstate New York, so this motto seems to be common for most native New Yorkers. At the beginning of the play, she begins her own personal karaoke session, which sounds like something anyone with her personality would do. Her private karaoke makes her even more relatable, since that’s something many people when they’re alone. The playwright also says, “Callie inhales to prepare for her long and interesting answer, then realizes has none.” Callie is extremely bored with her career and feels sort of like her life is temporarily stalled, so the playwright likely added this in to show how Callie feels like she can pretend she’s enjoying herself and that she’s interested in her career, but she really doesn’t feel that way. There is an entire scene dedicated to Callie remembering that Sara’s feet get hot when she sleeps and Callie moves the blanket to uncover Sara’s feet in the hospital. This shows that Callie pays attention to the minor things that people say, which is not something many people do. Callie and Sara have conversations, sort of like tom-ay-to/tom-ah-to, where they say they would do or say this versus that. Callie says she would straddle a rabbit if a rabbit hopped in front of her car and would not change someone’s toilet paper roll if they had it underhand versus waterfall. However, Sara says Callie would swerve to avoid hitting something in the road. Sara mentions that Callie often plans her day around other people’s schedules to avoid confrontation. Callie tells Sara that she’s never actually felt attracted to a woman before. Mrs. Waverly is talking to Detective Cole, when she says “Two women in a West Village park at 4:00 in the morning? What’s the chance they’re not dykes,” of both Callie and Sara during the investigation.

Callie changes during the course of play by falling in love with Sara and then losing Sara to a violence-induced coma. Callie has to adjust to Sara’s coma and learn how to take care of Sara once Sara is dismissed from the hospital. The most critical cause of growth for Callie is when she finally works up the courage to kiss Sara. There are two main significant events that occur during the course of the play. First, Callie must overcome her fear of rejection by kissing Sara and expressing her feelings to Sara. Then, Sara is beaten into a coma and Callie blames herself for Sara’s injuries. She has to develop an understanding of how to care for Sara when she is released from the hospital, so her family won’t take her back to St. Louis because Sara doesn’t want to go back. Callie’s world view centers around the line, “The best thing to do is walk on by,” for most of the play. However, she ends the play with the world view of, “I can do this, you see? Choose me,” as she attempts to prove her ability to take care of Sara, so Sara won’t be forced to move back to St. Louis. Her emotional state throughout most of the play is, “I’ll be back in ten minutes to tell you nothing has changed,” because she feels like her career is going nowhere and her life is stalled. Callie’s main goal throughout most of the play is to express her feelings for Sara. “What I really wanted to do was plant her a big, fat, wet one. Square on the lips. Nothing confusing about it.” Callie has to build up the courage to make this happen. She struggles with understanding her sexuality and must overcome her own fears of coming out to Sara. She pursues her goal of understanding the feelings she has for Sara throughout the play. Callie’s main objective is to confront her feelings for Sara and develop an understanding of both her own sexuality and her feelings for Sara. She wants to express her feelings for Sara so Sara will know how Callie feels about her. Callie faces her fear of rejection and coming out.

Callie grows by facing small battles related to her feelings for Sara, such as confronting her upstairs neighbor about the clomping on Thursday and Saturday at 6:00PM to impress Sara and allowing Sara to wear Callie’s clothes, Callie slowly encouraged herself to express her feelings to Sara. Callie achieved her goal and showed Sara how she felt by kissing Sara (despite the fact that they were both nervous and felt awkward about their first few kisses. Callie also proved to Sara that she could care for until she recovered so Sara could continue her fellowship in the Bronx and not be forced to move home with her parents....