Who Am I This Time? by Kurt Vonnegut

"Who am I?" is a great question because it can be ever changing. Who you are today may be different than who you were last week and who you will be next week.  

In his short story, Vonnegut takes two characters who lack the traditional bravado of being interesting people and bestow them the gift of being new people in new plays. The medium (acting) allows for the meaning (the personality of the character they play). On first glance, the final relationship between Stella and Harry seems surface level and fake. They're in love with the thought of who they are acting as rather than with the bare selves of their partner. This is aptly summarized with a single line:

"In the past week," she said "I've been married to Othello, been loved by Faust and been kidnapped by Paris. Wouldn't you say I was the luckiest girl in town?"

The love is between Harry as Romeo and Stella as Juliet... or any other variation of characters, but doesn't seem to be between boring old Stella and normal and shy old Harry. I'll go as far as to say I don't think it matters. Loving a version of someone which they themselves aspire to be in the moment is just as true as loving their everyday un-interesting self. I think it can be sustainable too.

Does anybody feel interesting to themselves? Interest seems to me to be a byproduct of various forms of uncertainty and attraction. When a person tries to grow themselves and become more interesting, they're taking a set of illusions (values, experiences, etc) and trying to impress  a shape on themselves. So what's the real difference between Stella trying to be Juliet and Harry trying to be Romeo to make themselves more interesting?