The short story Sea Defences is written by Hilary Taylor. The main character and narrator of the story is named Michael. As the reader, we have not been given any direct information about Michaels exact age, although we are aware that he left school four years in advance to the main plot of the story. We also know that he has been looking after kids for 29 years at the time.
When reading Sea Defences, it is clear to the reader that Michael’s main personality trait is his mental illness. Although the story never directly tells us that he has been diagnosed with an actual mental disorder, the reader can easily figure out that Michael has one, based on the clues given to us in the beginning of the story, and due to this presumed mental illness, Michael has a simple and childlike behaviour, making him an outsider.
His interactions with children show that he relates better to children than to adults, which unfortunately makes people afraid of him, when they see him around children (ll. 39-41), most likely assuming the worst in him.
As previously mentioned, the main character, Michael, is also the short story’s narrator. Although his mental illness makes him an unreliable narrator, due to his naive way of seeing the world around him and little to no social skills. As an example, he does not fully understand the reason why people are suspicious of him and call the police on him when he’s around their children: “Why is she talking about my job again? What’s their problem with it?” (ll. 25-26).
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