Chapter 2: characters
a. Character chart
b. Cast of characters
c. Creating a character by vacancy
d. Personal reflection: What is Simon doing in the book?
Characters, by family
starred names are narrators (3rd person limited point of view) at some point
FAIRBROTHER FAMILY
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Barry Fairbrother *
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Protagonist, except that he dies on page 8
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Mary *
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Wife
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Fergus
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Their son, oldest of four children
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Niamh and …
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Siobhan
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Twin daughters, on the rowing team
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Declan
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the youngest
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MOLLISON FAMILY GROUP
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Howard Mollison *
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Dad, age 64
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Shirley *
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Howard’s wife
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Maureen Lowe
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widow, Howard’s business partner
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Miles – 2nd generation *
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Howard and Shirley’s son
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Samantha *
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Miles’s wife
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Pat
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Howard and Shirley’s second child, lesbian, living in London
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Lexie, 3rd generation
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Miles and Shirley have two daughters, minor characters
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Libby, 3rd generation
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The 2nd daughter
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PRICE FAMILY
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Simon *
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abusive dad, foul mouth
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Ruth *
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compliant mom
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Andrew or Arf*
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angry son, foul mouth
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Paul
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younger son, not a major character, bleeds frequently
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BAWDEN GROUP
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Kay Bawden *
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social worker
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Gaia
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Kay’s daughter, a beautiful girl
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Gavin Hughes *
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Lawyer in Pagford, Miles’s partner, Barry’s friend, Kay’s lover
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WEEDON FAMILY
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Nana Cath
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Krystal’s great-grandmother, once tough, now frail, still fiery
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Terri *
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Krystal’s mother, addict and prostitute
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Krystal *
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Age 16, troubled, funny, gutsy
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Robbie
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Age 4, Krystal’s little brother
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Cheryl Tully
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Terri’s sister
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Shane Tully
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Cheryl’s husband, might burn your house down if you bother him
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Dane Tully
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Krystal’s cousin, tough fighter
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Others
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There is a large extended family, making occasional brief appearances
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WALL FAMILY
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Colin or “Cubby” Wall *
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tall, awkward, ridiculed deputy headmaster
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Tessa *
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frumpy, overweight guidance teacher
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Stu or “Fats” *
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one son, adopted: skinny, sallow, sardonic
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Jawanda family
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Parminder *
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doctor, member of parish council. only character with a prayer life
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Vikram
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husband, also a doctor – a heart surgeon
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Rajpal
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handsome son (minor character)
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Jaswant
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beautiful daughter (minor character)
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Sukhvinder *
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the Cinderella daughter
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Cast of characters
Barry Fairbrother
Barry Fairbrother is the novel’s protagonist. This is one of the odd “vacancies” of the book: the protagonist dies on the third page of the book, and is absent for the rest of the story. His ideas shape the struggle, but he is dead.
Barry was born in a low-cost housing project (“council housing”) called the Fields in the late 1960s. He died at the age of 44. (So the novel is set in 2010-2012.) He dies on his 19th wedding anniversary. He and wife Mary have four children. The children have Irish names: Fergus, the twins Siobhan and Niamh, and Declan. (The girls’ names appear in the BBC series about an Irish village, Ballykissangel.) He is “short, ginger-haired, and bearded” (p. 256). Several people refer to him as a short bearded man who loved to joke. Garrulous and engaging in person, he found it difficult to write (p. 7). He was a bank manager; he managed the only bank (branch) in Pagford (p. 19). He did well in school and went on to university, but never forgot his roots in the Fields.
Barry was a member of the parish (town) council, and was the leader of the faction that wanted to maintain a connection with the Fields. In a friendly fashion, he opposed the head of the council, Howard Mollison, who wanted to turn responsibility for the Fields to the neighboring city of Yarvil.
Barry took a personal interest in a struggling girl from the Fields, Krystal Weedon. He started a rowing team; he equipped and trained eight girls, including his own twin daughters. He recruited Krystal, impressed by her strength and drive. He was the only positive male figure in her life, and provided her with a sense of worth and hope.
He and his family live on Church Row.
Mary Fairbrother
At Barry’s funeral, his older brother describes how Barry met a beautiful blonde at a pub in Liverpool, where she was tending bar, and married her exactly a year later.
Mary is not a strong figure in the novel. She is overcome with grief, and stays in that role pretty much throughout the story. It is clear that she did not support her husband’s work for the Fields, nor his work to help Krystal. She resents the time he spent, even on their anniversary, on his “causes.” This disagreement was deep, but did not damage their relationship; they loved each other, and raised four kids together.
The Fairbrother kids
Fergus, the eldest, age 18, chooses the coffin – willow wickerwork, because it is environmentally friendly. He has his father’s social conscience. He is thoughtful, analyzes the writing style of the posts written by the “Ghost of Barry Fairbrother” intelligently.
The twins, Siobhan and Niamh, stick together through the story. They row together, read together, listen to music together, study together, befriend Sukhvinder with bored pity together, dump Sukhvinder for awhile together.
Declan, the youngest, age 12, was the only one who said goodbye to his dad when he left for dinner with Mary, the evening he died. He is sensitive child. He is the one who chose the hymn for end of his father’s funeral, the American song that Krystal had taught the rowing team, that had become their team ritual, their theme.
The Mollison family
Howard Mollison, age 64 at the beginning of the novel, is the principal antagonist. He is the head of the parish (town, village) council in Pagford. He has lived there all his life, and never wanted to be elsewhere. He is a contented shopkeeper in a small village, pleased to expand his delicatessen to include a restaurant. He is overweight – “extravagantly obese,” with his belly hanging down in front like an apron (p. 29). He wears a hat called a “deerstalker” (like the fat plumber and restaurant owner, Bert Large, in the BBC TV series Doc Martin).
The deli still retains the name of his original partner: Mollison and Lowe. His partner, Ken Lowe, died some years ago; but his widow, Maureen, still works with Howard. The shop is on the Square in the center of town, facing the Black Canon, “one of the oldest pubs in England.”
He grew up on Hope Street, where Nana Cath and Kay Bawden live, but has moved on to a better home on Evergreen Crescent. The name of the street is slyly slightly Muslim.
He and his wife Shirley have two children, Miles and Pat. Miles has a law practice in Pagford, and is tied tightly to his parents. Pat has moved away, and has done very well financially, judging by her car, a BMW. But Pat is estranged from her parents, especially her mother, because she is a lesbian.
Howard is a study in the banality of evil. He is the embodiment of pride. He looks like the figure of gluttony, but it is his pride, his complacent sense of his own worth, that is the great destructive power of the novel.
Shirley Mollison, Howard’s wife, is a small, bird-like woman. She and her husband have separate beds, which probably saves her from death by accidental suffocation. She does not work in the shop, and sometimes resents the influence of Maureen.
Shirley runs the website for the parish (town) council. She is slow, out of touch with the world. She is proud of her husband, who is Chair of the Parish Council and (therefore) First Citizen; without being aware of the link to brutality, she thinks of herself as the “First Citizeness.” (In Dickens’ novel, Tale of Two Cities, Madame DeFarge is a sinister murderess who calls herself “Citizeness,” and pressures others to call each other “Citizen” or “Citizeness.”
She is extremely touchy, always looking for slights. She despises Barry Fairbrother, mostly because she suspects that he thinks his university education makes him better than the Mollisons.
She believes she is the embodiment of gentility, but in fact she is a gossip who is always insulting people skillfully. She is not from Pagford; she grew up in Yarvil. Her father abandoned the family, and her mother was in some unspecified disgrace. Shirley tries to ignore the past.
Her world is tiny: Howard. His blubber makes a large body but a small world. When she comes to believe that he has betrayed her, she becomes a murderess, intent on stabbing and killing her husband. Fortunately, she is too weak to overcome obstacles.
Miles Mollison
Howard and Shirley have a son, Miles. He has a law practice in Pagford, with one other junior member and a secretary. He is weak, completely devoted to his parents; his identity is being their child. He is married to Samantha, and they have two children, Lexie and Libby.
They live on Church Row.
Samantha Mollison is a grown woman with the concerns of a teenager. She is very interested in her skin (tan) and her breasts (large). She looks forward to flirting with a salesman. She runs a shop in Yarvil, selling large-size bras – Over the Shoulder Boulder Holders – but business is not good, and she may have to close the shop and sell through the internet only.
She is sharply critical of her husband, but usually keeps her scorn inside. She is aware that Miles is a momma’s boy, and teases him about it.
She drinks too much. At Howard’s 65th birthday party, she gets drunk and grabs a teenage boy (Andrew Price) in the kitchen. Miles comes into the kitchen at the wrong moment and drags her off. They have a confrontation, and seem to be headed toward divorce. But when Robbie Weedon drowns. Samantha blames herself, because she saw him wandering alone and did intervene. Miles refuses to let her accuse herself, and she falls in love with him again.
Many of the scenes with the Mollisons are seen through her eyes.
When Howard is incapacitated, she offers to take his place on the Parish Council. But after her drinking, she is not sure that the Bellchapel Addiction Clinic should be closed; if she is on the council, she is likely to be the vote that saves the clinic.
Pat Mollison
Patricia is estranged from her parents. She has left Pagford and moved to London. She comes back to Pagford for her father’s 65th birthday party, but fights with her mother, because the invitation to the party was addressed to “Pat and guest.” Pat’s “guest” is her lover, Mel, a woman. Shirley won’t speak plainly, but she is mortified by her daughter’s lesbianism. Pat departs unhappy.
Lexie Mollison is one of the two daughters of Miles and Samantha. (The other daughter, Libby, does not enter the story in any way.) Lexie snubs Krystal at school, and Krystal punches her, knocking out two teeth (two loose teeth). The Mollisons are shocked by the incident, and when the time comes to decide what to do about secondary school, they opt to send the two girls to a private boarding school in Yarvil, St. Anne’s, to keep her away from Krystal and other students from the Fields who attend Winterdown Comprehensive School.
Maureen Lowe is not a member of the Mollison family. She is a widow; her husband was Howard’s partner starting the deli, and she is still part owner, and still works at the shop. She spends most of her time with the Mollisons, although Shirley resents her as a competitor.
Maureen is 62, a slight woman with round shoulders, stooped. Her hair is dyed black. She wears bright colors and high heels, but doesn’t succeed in looking young and spry. She has wrinkles and spots and bulging knuckles.
She is a Catholic, with a crucifix (and her husband’s wedding ring) on a chain around her neck, and she crosses herself when she hears about Barry’s death. She provides some picturesque details in Howard’s world.
The fourth and last post on the parish council website from the Ghost of Barry Fairbrother says that she is sexually involved with Howard.
Price Family
Simon Price is a violent and abusive husband and father. His family tiptoes around him, living in daily fear. He is also ignorant, dishonest, and superstitious. His wife Ruth, a nurse, loves him. They have two children, Andrew and Paul. (The Fairbrothers have Irish names; the Prices have Biblical names.)
Simon hears a rumor that Barry Fairbrother was taking bribes, and decides to run for council in order to get those bribes for himself. His son Andrew is mortified; he is sure his father will make a fool of himself, and in any case he learns that the rumor about bribes is false. When he realizes that Andrew is not supportive of his candidacy, Simon beats his son.
Andrew hacks into the Parish Council website, and posts an attack on his father, saying that he is a thief, and that he is using company resources after hours. He signs the post “Ghost of Barry Fairbrother.” In fear, Simon dumps a stolen computer in the River Orr. At the end of the story, when Sukhvinder jumps into the river to save Robbie, the smashed computer slashes her leg open.
The Prices live in an oddly prominent place, in the home with the best view in the story, Hilltop House. Simon loses his job because of the post, and the family plans to move.
If you analyze the story in terms of the seven deadly sins of medieval catechesis, Howard embodies pride (although he doesn’t really have much power), and Simon embodies greed (although he doesn’t really have much money).
If Simon took Barry Fairbrother’s seat on the parish council, he would have no idea what he should be doing, but his votes on the future of the Fields and Bellchapel would be for sale.
Ruth Price is a nurse at a hospital in Yarvil, and is on duty when an ambulance brings Barry. She is a sweet person who works hard to say and do good things. When she looks at her husband, she remembers the strong and handsome young man she married, and does not have much reaction to his violence.
Her compliance and her determination to talk about superficial good things makes her a good companion for Shirley Mollison, when Shirley works as a volunteer at the hospital. It also makes her a terrible mother: she fails to protect her children, or even sympathize much.
Andrew Price is a pimply teenage boy who despises his father. He thinks his mother should have learned how to predict and avoid Simon’s violent anger. He makes a private vow that he will hit back if Simon hits Ruth again, but he is no match for Simon, and the vow doesn’t have much effect; Simon thrashes them both, and the younger son as well.
Andrew’s best friend is Fats Wall. Fats is much smarter than Andrew, but they share some classes, and talk on the bus and in the halls. They found a secret cave by the river, where they smoke and talk.
Andrew takes a job at Mollison and Lowe’s deli – for the money, but also to hang around Gaia Bawden.
He is the one who launches the attacks on candidates for the parish council, short notes posted on the Pagford Parish Council website, signed by the “Ghost of Barry Fairbrother.” He does not intend to start a pattern; he just attacks his own father. But others see the post, and figure out how to imitate it.
Paul is not in the story much. He gets beaten up by his father, and his nose bleeds a lot. When he is bleeding, Simon remarks that “Pauline” has her again, and should stay off the rugs. He stutters, and tries hard to speak the truth.
Bawden family group
Kay Bawden, a single mother and a social worker, fell in love with a young lawyer, Gavin, and left London to follow him. She brought her daughter, Gaia. They moved into a small town house (in England, row houses are a “terrace”) on Hope Street, and Gavin spent some nights there, but did not let go of his own apartment outside town.
She has olive skin and short dark hair. Her house is shabby and in need of repair. She drives an old Vauxhall Corsa.
When a co-worker takes leave, Kay’s caseload expands suddenly, and includes the Weedons. She visits them and evaluates the situation with human sympathy and a professional eye.
Kay is a newcomer in town, and would not run for council. But she supports Barry’s ideas, and offers to work for a candidate who holds Barry’s views (Colin “Cubby” Wall).
She is one of the three characters in helping professions. Paradoxically, her role is sometimes a hindrance to being helpful. At one critical moment, when Krystal is in danger, Kay hesitates to act, because her co-worker has returned, and Kay is not Krystal’s caseworker any longer.
Gaia Bawden is a beautiful girl who was happy in London, and is very angry at her mother for uprooting her to chase some guy. She slept with a handsome athlete in London, but it was more an act of defiance against her mother’s plans than anything else. She does hope to maintain the relationship long distance, but fails.
Gaia befriends Sukhvinder Jawanda, partly because Sukhvinder is an outsider, and Gaia rejects the popular clique.
Andrew is infatuated with her. She ignores him for awhile, then accepts him as an ally, but not a boyfriend.
Gavin Hughes lives several miles outside Pagford, in an attractive cottage called the Smithy, when he is not staying at Kay’s place. He is a weak, self-centered man. He works in a small law firm that has three people – the boss, the other lawyer, and the secretary. Gavin is the other lawyer, and the secretary treats him with disdain.
He got dumped by his previous girlfriend, and is glad to get maternal comfort and noisy athletic sex from Kay. But he does not love her, is embarrassed when people identify her as his girlfriend, and wishes she would go back to London. He won’t say what he wants clearly, because this lawyer doesn’t talk much. In his own mind, he thinks that he is sending strong signals by things he doesn’t do.
He knew Barry, and played squash with him. He is handling some legal matters for Mary Fairbrother, including the life insurance after Barry’s death. He is in love with Mary, although he hid it successfully while Barry was alive. One of the puzzles of the book – the explanation buried with Barry – is why Barry played squash with such an empty person. Was Gavin another stray in need of a father swept up by Barry, or was it a friendship between equals?
He works with Miles, and his view on the Fields and Bellchapel is the Mollisons’ view. But he doesn’t care much about it – or about anything. He doesn’t even vote.
He is one of the people who sees Robbie panicking, but he barely notices that the child exists.
Obbo is Terri’s drug dealer. He sells drugs and stolen goods. He has known Terri all her life, and sometimes he stores his stuff – stolen computers, blocks of drugs – at her house. Krystal does not know who her father is; he might be a young man who was found dead in the bathroom when Krystal was six, or might live in a distant city – or might be Obbo. Obbo rapes Krystal, but there is no one to help her through that horror. When Krystal thinks Obbo might abuse Robbie, she takes her little brother and flees the house, desperate.
Fawley dynasty
There is an estate on the edge of Pagford owned by the Sweetlove family, benefactors to the town for generations. They died out, and the estate was purchased by the Fawleys. Aubrey Fawley, senior, sells part of the land to the neighboring city, Yarvil, to pay for improvements in his mansion. Yarvil extends its council housing, and builds the Fields on the land. The old-timers in Pagford are very upset that the city is encroaching on their lives. But in the current generation, Aubrey Fawley (junior) and his wife Julia are making amends.
The Fawleys are snobs. Howard is delighted to visit them occasionally, and fawn on them, then report on the results of his quiet word with Aubrey. Shirley decides to volunteer at the hospital when she hears Julia remark that upper class women do that sometimes.
Fawley is an international banker, and a member of the District Council (one governmental level up from the parish). He is cooperating with Howard to re-draw the map, and make the Fields part of Yarvil. Pagford will no longer have to accept Fields residents in their school, and Yarvil will get a large number of new voters.
Rowing’s use of names is shameless. The town (village, parish) of Pagford recalls a time when all was well, as in the Garden of Eden, and the patron was a Sweetlove. Then came the Fawley.
Weedon family
The Weedons have been in Pagford for generations, and Howard remembers some respectable members of the family. Nana Cath is the aging matriarch of the sprawling clan. She lives on Hope Street, but her descendants are in the Fields.
Nana Cath tries to care for his grandchildren and great-grand-children, including Krystal, but she is frail. She is proud of Krystal, and her last words are about Krystal rowing.
Terri is an addict living in the Fields. She is scarred, and has missing teeth. Sometimes she supports herself by prostitution. Two of her children are in foster care, but she still has two at home. If she relapses, they too will be taken away.
Terri was beaten and raped when she was a teenager. Nana Cath tried to protect her, but her husband reclaimed her, smashing things in his wake, and scared Nana Cath away. Terri remembers when she thought she had a chance.
Krystal is the key battle ground in the novel. She is a feisty, funny foul-mouthed teenager. She attended St. Thomas Church of England Primary School in Pagford, because the Fields are in the school’s catchment area, but now she attends Winterdown Comprehensive School in Yarvil, where she is at the bottom of the class, and spends a lot of time in the counseling center.
An insight into her character comes when she reacts to classmates making fun of her last name – pee-ed-upon. Krystal “cackled and shrieked, ‘Weed-on! Krystal weed-on!’” (p. 24)
Krystal is fearless. She and Fats are alike in being ridiculed, but not allowing ridicule to change them.
She was an early bloomer, and was well developed. At the end of one class, students went to the back of the room, put their papers in the box, and then squeezed her breasts as she sat there with a challenge in her eyes. Andrew was intimidated by her boldness.
She loves her little brother, Robbie, and is ready to die to take care of him.
Barry Fairbrother recruited her for his rowing team, because she was strong. She kept the team laughing, and led them singing. A song that she led – an American song, Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” which opens with Jay-Z rapping – became team’s lucky ritual, their theme tune. Barry’s daughters chose it as the closing song at his funeral, a choice that shocked some people.
Wall family
Tessa Wall is a short, stout woman with graying hair. She cuts her own hair, often a little lop-sided, and wears a homespun style. She avoids mirrors.
She is the head of guidance at Winterdown Comprehensive School in Yarvil. Her office wall has some color, a Nepalese hanging from her college days, but is mostly covered with posters about anonymous help. The most prominent poster: “When all else fails, call ChildLine.”
When Barry is hospitalized, Mary Fairbrother calls Tessa for help.
She is one of the three characters in a helping profession in the novel. She supports Barry’s work in the Fields. She was there when Barry came to the school to recruit for a rowing team, and watched him pull in Krystal successfully.
Kids trust her, including Krystal, Andrew, and Sukhvinder. She is the best friend of Dr. Parminder Jawanda, a rather prickly woman who is often treated as an outsider even after years in Pagford.
She is one of the two people in the story who pray at all. Her prayers aren’t much more than desperate pleas for help. But her daily work involves frequent pleas for help, so maybe that’s not so bad.
When Tessa’s son accuses her of looking down on Krystal, she denies it; but still, she is shocked when she learns that he might be hanging out with her. When Krystal needs help, she expects to get it from Tessa, but sets out to obtain this help by manipulating a bureaucratic process.
Colin Wall is the deputy headmaster (assistant principal) at Winterdown Comprehensive School. He is a tall awkward man, with a high balding forehead. He has an odd way of walking, bobbing up and down. He is nick-named “Cubby” because he is obsessive about keeping things in the proper cubbyhole in the school office. Students make fun of him, often led by Fats Wall, Colin’s son, one of the most troublesome students in the school.
Colin suffers from severe anxiety, often associated with dreams about misbehavior that he can’t distinguish easily from reality. In particular, he is deeply worried about brushing against girls’ breasts in the hallway, and is not sure whether he has done so recently, and not sure whether he did so on purpose. To be clear: he is neurotic, and innocent.
Colin is devoted to Barry, and is deeply distressed about his death. He announces the death at school, and breaks down. When he gets the announcement out, Krystal cries out in dismay, and Colin thinks she is laughing, and shouts at her. So from the very first moment, Colin wants to carry on Barry’s work, but is totally unfit to do so, because he does not have any rapport with the people Barry helped.
Stuart “Fats” Wall is an only child, and an adopted child. He is skinny, sallow, with large ears and a loping walk. His savage humor and his poise win him respect even from the toughest kids. He and Andrew are best friends.
Fats teases Sukhvinder with great cruelty, making fun of the hair on her face. He sends her messages on line about bearded ladies, and about a variety of trans-sexual anomalies. He insults her in class at length, when he can talk without getting caught by the teacher, and reduces to Sukhvinder to tears.
He is experimenting with philosophies of detachment. He hates his parents’ respectable life, and wants “authenticity.”
He goes out with Krystal to learn about sex, then visits the Fields to learn about authentic life.
Jawanda family
Parminder Jawanda, a physician in Pagford, is a member of the parish council. She and her husband Vikram have three children, two very accomplished and successful students, and one ugly duckling, Sukhvinder.
The Jawandas live at the end of Church Row, in the old Vicarage, the finest house on Pagford’s main street. This disturbs some residents like Shirley, because the Jawandas are Sikhs, not Christians.
Parminder is a competent doctor, but is reluctant to dispense medications without clear limitations. This irritates some of her patients, who remember a more relaxed practice with previous doctors. She has confrontation with patients across the spectrum, from Nana Cath to Howard.
Her feelings are intense, beyond her control. Her grief is wild, and her anger erupts. Often, her impatience overflows onto her daughter, Sukhvinder, who works hard but does not excel in school.
She despises Howard and admires Barry. After one fight, her daughter hacks into the parish council website to post a message from the Ghost of Barry Fairbrother, stating that Parminder was secretly in love with Barry.
Parminder is the only character in the novel with a serious life of prayer. She reads the works of Sikh mystics, and tries to follow their teaching. She is ashamed of her shortcomings, and tries to be loving, as mystics and Barry had loved.
She is serious about continuing Barry’s fight on the Parish council, but she does so out of a sense of duty and justice, and out of loyalty to Barry, not because she is fond of the people in the Fields. Her anger puts people off and undercuts her message. Still, her fierce denunciation of Howard when they vote on the Fields has some effect.
Parminder is of the three characters in the book who are in helping professions. Like the others, she finds that her role is sometimes in the way when she should help.
Vikram is a highly respected cardiac surgeon. He has operated on Howard, and gave him back his life after a heart attack. Howard treats him with exaggerated respect, which Vikram finds distasteful or embarrassing.
He is generally very quiet. But unlike Gavin, who tries to communicate by the things he doesn’t do, Vikram communicates effectively by what he does. He is a surgeon, and he repairs hearts. He loves his wife, and is ready to take her to visit India if she would like to go.
If he ran for Barry’s seat on the parish council, he would probably win, and would probably be able to carry on Barry’s work. But he is not a talker, and the question of his running for council never comes up.
Sukhvinder is the unlikely heir to Barry’s rich heart, the one who carries on where he left off. Her father loves her, but says little; her mother criticizes her shortcomings. Her brother and sister are attractive and successful; she is “square and sulky” (p. 20), with dark hair on her upper lip, and she is the second-to-bottom math class. In the Jawanda home, there is a wall covered with family photos, with only one photo celebrating Sukhvinder.
She is friends with Barry’s twin daughters, but they condescend to her. Gaia befriends her – in part to show that she doesn’t care about being cool. She rows with Krystal, and admires her courage. Fats abuses her regularly, whispering in class and sending her insulting messages on line. She is a “cutter”: she slices her arm with a razor periodically, for emotional relief.
She is on her way to find a quiet place to cut herself when she sees Robbie drowning. She shouts for Krystal and jumps into the river immediately. The computer that Simon has dumped there slices her leg, but she stays focused and grabs Robbie. The two are dragged out of the river together; Robbie is dead.
In the hospital, her parents see the cuts on her arm. Vikram defends her, and Parminder stops criticizing her daughter. Parminder’s change endures: when Sukhvinder wants to organize a funeral for her dead friend, Parminder agrees and helps.
Sukhvinder goes into the Fields to see Terri, and she knows that she is safe, because Krystal’s extended family will protect her. In her person, she re-connects Pagford and the Fields. At the funeral, the powerful and moving action, the celebration of Krystal’s courage and joy, is in Sukhvinder’s mind and heart.
Characters Created by Cavity
There are seven key techniques for creating a character in fiction, and indeed for recognizing and describing people in real life. They include:
1. the narrator’s description of a character, which is the fastest but in many ways the weakest technique;
2. another character’s description of the one we are scrutinizing;
3. details about the character’s circumstances, such as setting or clothes
4. what the character says (key technique, in fiction and in life)
5. what the character does (slowest technique, but generally the most reliable source of insight into the real character, in both life and literature, getting past deception and misunderstanding),
6. what the character thinks (other techniques try to get at this, because it is generally considered to be the real identity of a character; generally unavailable in real life)
7. use of foils, contrast with other characters – a powerful technique, but obvious impossible by itself, and must be used in conjunction with other techniques.
One of the oddities, and great strengths, of Rowling’s new book is that she sets out to describe characters by eight techniques – including casual vacancies. What isn’t there that you expect, or want, or think should be there? In discussions of morality, the idea of looking carefully at omissions is common; a formal examination of conscience is likely to include scrutiny of “thoughts, words, deeds, and omissions.” Some moralists would consider the key to any evil to be something missing. Her idea is related to the “banality of evil.” But the way Rowling uses vacancies is not common in literature. In my limited experience, what Rowling has done seems new.
The book describes a village that is badly damaged by the death of a prominent citizen. He was the conscience of the community, or something like that. Specifying what is missing in the damaged town is tough. Is it Christianity? The town lies under the ruin of an abbey; the local vicar says the right words but does not communicate them with any conviction. Is it social conscience? Barry did prod the parish council to care for the needy, and no one else is able to fulfill that role effectively.
But another set of questions raised by Rowling’s approach involves the creation of characters. The vacancies in the bookare different for each character: proud Howard simply lacks the ability to see small people, hateful Shirley shuts people out deliberately, lusty Samantha is distracted by skin but can learn to see deeper, etc. To understand the book, the reader must think about the vacancy in the village as a whole. But to understand each character, the reader has to take note of all the standard techniques for creating characters – but also ask, what is the vacancy in this person’s life?
I could well be wrong; my knowledge is limited. Perhaps many other authors have explored the lacunae in life – have focused on the vacancies. Of course many have done so to some extent; many writers have explored hypocrisy, exposed ignorance, reveled in the cryptic, dabbled in the occult, used pregnant silences – all holes in thought or behavior. When Rowling opens a chapter with a simple reference to what is hidden, it’s not a startling list: “Things denied, things untold, things hidden and disguised” (235). Nonetheless, I think that Rowling is pioneering a new facet of fiction. Her characters are in a context that is detailed enough that you can ask – not just “What’s wrong with this person?” but also – “What’s missing in this person?”
My own perspective is that of a social activist and organizer. For much of my life, I have been aware of the problem that Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., described in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The obstacle to justice that he fought was not just the open racism of Bull O’Connor and other dog-bodies. Much more important was the carelessness and passivity of fellow Christians. Rowling has her eye on the same problem – a novelist’s eye, reporting and describing, not denouncing and fighting – but the same problem.
In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Elie Wiesel said, “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” How can that be? What is offensive about neutrality? Rowling, it seems to me, explores this question, with her own angle, looking at a variety of people who do not or cannot or will not lift a finger to help people in need. She pokes and prods and describes what she calls a vacancy.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote about the problem of stirring the embers of humanity back to life. He said that Russians lived with lies for decades, and could not always recognize the truth. They lived with murderous evil for decades, and could not always figure out how to do good. What then? His job, Solzhenitsyn said, was to hold out beauty, and let it work in people’s souls. When people began to respond to beauty, their innate love of truth and goodness would also stir from the ashes. This, it seems to me, is an aspect of what Rowling did for years with her children’s fantasies, and now has done again in her new novel. And she looks as carefully at what is missing as what is present.
The critics who consider the novel to be mediocre should swallow their pride and re-read the book, watching for something new, watching for the vacancies – like a probing tongue hunting for a cavity.
I admit (third time) I am somewhat ignorant. It is possible that many other writers have done what she did, and have done it better, and that her critics, better read than I, did understand what she was doing and still were not impressed. But I have not seen any hint of their firm grasp of what she has done.
Personal reflection: What is Simon doing in this book?
Simon Price does not serve any obvious purpose in the book. That’s okay in a novel; a novel is a plastic form, and can absorb a great deal of irrelevancy. Still, I wondered: does Simon serve any purpose at all in the story as a whole?
The story is about the council: Simon seems to be a distraction. The story is about Krystal; Simon has no contact with her, or even any apparent awareness of her. Does he have a role?
I would argue that Simon plays an extraordinarily important role in the novel. He is a foil for Howard, clarifying the vacancy in Howard.
Simon is openly brutal. He beats his wife and his children. He has no discernible moral code. He wants to get on the council because he believes that it provides opportunities for bribery.
Howard is not openly brutal like Simon, but does want to avoid taking any responsibility for the Fields. When Oddo rapes Krystal in the Fields, there is no one around to do anything about it. Oddo is not working for Howard; Howard is not directly responsible for the rape. But Howard is partially responsible for the welfare of the people within the boundaries of the parish, including the Fields. If anyone should have become aware of the growing dangers in the Fields, and should have started thinking about steps the parish could take to protect innocent residents, it would be the parish council, headed by Howard.
Howard does not beat his children like Simon. But Shirley has abused them, praising Miles ad nauseam and insulting Pat. Miles is an emotional cripple, an adult who craves parental approval. Pat is alienated, feeling unwelcome in her parents’ home. Howard has overlooked the damage to his children.
Howard has a code of behavior, but not a discernible moral code. That is, he does know what is proper and politic, but does not know what is moral. His long-time neighbor and colleague, a political opponent perhaps but a neighbor, is dead. His reaction? Well, his death has its advantages; when can we meet for dinner? At church, where the Lord said carefully and forcefully that you should not give preference to the rich over the poor, he pushes people aside to make room for his belly, and then saves seats for the rich. But mostly, he is simply devoid of any sense that the poor are God’s children, and that morality demands care for them.
Howard is not on the council to take bribes like Simon, but he is on the council to be important. He pays attention to constituents, but only the ones who don’t need protection. His use of the council for his own benefit is not crude like Simon’s plans, but it is far deeper and more thorough.
Simon is in the book to clarify Howard. There is nothing that Simon does that is worse than what Howard does. But Howard is a hypocrite, and hypocrisy covers a multitude of improprieties.
To pound that point home, consider Pat again. Her role in the book, like Simon’s, is a little puzzling. She shows up in an expensive car, brings some wine for the party, fights with Mom, smokes outside with the teenagers a little, and then leaves. What was that all about? If she exists, it’s good she came to the 65th birthday party, but why did Rowling invent her? What is she doing in this story?
Shirley treats her daughter worse than Simon treats his son. Simon beats his wife and Andrew, but they know that his violence has nothing to do with them. By contrast, Shirley looks at Pat, considers Pat, thinks about how to address Pat’s lover – and decides to pretend she doesn’t exist. Shirley deliberately and consistently depersonalizes Melly, and insults her daughter. Shirley does not argue with her and agree to disagree; she dodges the topic genteelly, and turns her daughter into a pariah. Simon insults Andrew, and calls him Pizza Face, but it isn’t really an attack on Andrew; rather, it’s rage in search of a target, and Andrew is handy. What Simon does is destructive, and Andrew hates him; but Andrew is growing up fairly healthy and hopeful despite his dad. But Shirley focuses on Melly, and considers her an unperson; she focuses on Pat, and considers her behavior unspeakable. Shirley does not try and fail; she considers, and chooses annihilating silence. Pat can survive, if she flees. Simon’s attack looks worse than Shirley’s silence, because he spills blood. But Simon is out of control, responding to impulses that have nothing to do with Andrew, while Shirley is focusing on Pat’s life and Pat’s decisions and Pat’s lover – and choosing annihilation.
It is Shirley who depersonalizes her daughter, not Howard; but Howard is complicit. And – here’s the point – what Howard & Shirley do to Krystal and everyone in the Fields is the same thing that they had already done to their own daughter. Dealing with their daughter could have, and should have, taught them to be empathetic, or at least tolerant. But they didn’t learn the lesson dealing with Pat, and cannot apply the lesson to the people in the Fields.
Howard does not seem to notice that he has turned his back on people in need. If his conscience does not prod him, if he is simply blind, is he responsible for his destructive betrayal? The answer is: look at the way he and Shirley dealt with Pat. Shirley chose blindness. Howard went along. Then what Howard learned in the home, he applied in the town, and the people of the Fields pay the price. So, yes, it is fair to hold him responsible for the vacancy of his heart. He chose the destruction of his heart.
At first glance, Simon and Pat seem like sideshows in a sprawling novel, irrelevant but colorful, doodles on the edge of the canvas. But this is a mistake; they are not sideshows. The novel is as tightly constructed as any short story. Simon is a foil, deepening our understanding of Howard. Pat sharpens our understanding of Howard and Shirley, and makes the contrast with Simon much clearer.
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