Laurie Colwins "An Old-Fashioned Story" centers around the undiscovered love between two characters. These two main characters, Elizabeth and Nelson, are portrayed throughout their early growing years. Through this growth, they reveal themselves to be more similar than different. Colwin vividly describes Nelson and Elizabeth as characters from similar backgrounds but very different. However, at the climax of the story she portrays them as similar.
             Colwin portrays the characters Elizabeth and Nelson as similar by having them raised by the same type of family. Nelson and Elizabeth are both children of the well-to-do. Their parents want them to grow up and like each other well enough to get married. Another correlation between Nelson and Elizabeth is their physical characteristics. According to Colwin, Elizabeth found it hard to admit that Nelson was very handsome. Colwin stated that Elizabeth was extraordinarily pretty.
             In contrast, Colwin portrays the characters of Nelson and Elizabeth as being different. Nelson is always revealed as being the perfect child. Colwin shows this through his stamp collection, perfect math papers, perfect posture, clean neat clothes, and the model city he had built with his Erector set. Elizabeth on the other hand is rebellious, spunky and such children like this are never called difficult but original.
             While Nelson and Elizabeth at first seem uniquely different the end up being similar characters. Clown takes you on a journey from childhood, though adolescents, into young adulthood bringing these two characters together. It takes to the end of the story to shoe that Nelson and Elizabeth are really alike. Despite their differences they come together in love in a secret romance.
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