The two main characters, Pam and Martha, are seemingly very different. What do the story's telling details reveal about them? How does understanding their relationship reflect a big idea developing in the story?

Pam and Martha are the two characters of the story "Martha, Martha " written by Zadie Smith.                  

Explanation:

The given context refers to the short story of "Martha Martha". This famous short story is written by Zadie Smith.

Zadie Smith wrote this story about two persons Pam Roberts and Martha Penk. They are the main two characters in the story. Pam Roberts is a real estate agent while Martha Penk is a client of Pam. They both are searching a flat or  house for Martha.

In the story, Pam is an middle aged women who is a divorcee. She had seen many sadness and faced many problems in her past. She is a good natured women and is fond of gossiping.

Martha is of younger age than Pam. Before coming to Massachusetts, Martha was working in England but she hopes to study law at the university. To the reader, Martha seems to hide something from Pam. She used to be very cautious and curt while answering to Pam's questions.

At the end of the story, Martha's feeling and behavior was a result of emotional turnmoil. She flees from the flat where a young family was living, as she wishes to live the life of this young family. Also Martha reveals a secretive character.

its hard for me to see which word is supposed to be in bold. if i knew then i would be able to better.

not sure maybe the subject closer to it or subject-verb agreement