ETHICAL IDENTITY AND MINIMALIST CHARACTER CONSTRUCTION IN TWO NOVELS BY SUSAN HILL

Susan Hill’s later fiction is marked by narrative restraint and psychological understatement, through which ethical identity is constructed indirectly rather than through explicit authorial commentary. This article examines A Kind Man (2014) and A Question of Identity (2012) to demonstrate how Hill employs minimalist characterization to reveal moral selfhood. The study argues that ethical identity in these novels emerges through silence, professional conduct, and restrained dialogue, positioning characters within unresolved moral frameworks. Drawing on established criticism by Jackson, Hofer, and Reynolds and Noakes, the article situates Hill’s realist novels within a broader post-Gothic and ethical narrative tradition. The findings suggest that Hill’s minimalism functions as a deliberate strategy to foreground moral ambiguity and ethical responsibility in modern life.