By seeing the interactions between Isabel and her parents, the boyfriend provides a specific point of view of the altercation by using exaggerated characterization to show that the characters are viewed as abnormal. When Isabel first sees her parents, she knows exactly what they will be talking about an just how embarrassing they will be. This is shown when she says “he'll just get flustered because he'll just have dropped it in a bin by mistake.” This later is shown to be true in the novel and it caused Isabel to be embarrassed. Her embarrassment is shown when she tries to avoid her parents. She remains unseen for the moment, but “Isabel smiled feebly, turned a beetroot shade and repeated in panicked diction”. Finally, the way that her mother talks to her shows how abnormal the family is. When commenting on Isabel's dress, she says “pity you don't have more cleavage for it, but that's your fathers fault.” This is viewed as abnormal because most people do not talk about their daughter like that in front of her boyfriend, and even more uncommonly blame it on her husband. The characterization of Isabel's abnormal father, mother and herself by the boyfriend provides a unique point of view because he is a third party and is unaffected by past events.