Andrea

Andrea, the protagonist of the story, is the only character with a name. She is a successful real estate agent. Although married, Andrea appears to have little passion for either her husband or her life.

Indeed, the only thing she seems to have passion for is a cream-colored bowl; she places the bowl in a prominent place in the homes of her clients when she shows the homes to prospective buyers. Andrea begins to obsess about the bowl and credits her success in business to the bowl itself.

As time goes by, she worries about the bowl getting damaged—she even begins to dream about it. Andrea spends a good deal of time contemplating the bowl and her own relationship to it. Beattie writes in the final paragraph, "Alone in the living room at night, she often looked at the bowl sitting on the table, still and...