The Fathers: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Fathers: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the intricacies of familial relationships and societal norms in the context of pre-Civil War America. The narrative is centered around Lacy Buchan, an introspective and educated man reflecting on his formative years, particularly the pivotal events of 1860, including his family's dynamics and conflicts. Lacy grapples with love, family loyalty, and the contrasting influences of his father, Major Lewis Buchan, who embodies traditional values yet struggles with the realities of his plantation life, and his brother-in-law, George Posey, who represents a more pragmatic, albeit morally ambiguous, approach to life.
The story also delves into the lives of key female characters such as Susan Posey, Lacy’s sister, who faces moral dilemmas amid her complex familial obligations, and Jane Posey, a sheltered young girl caught between her affections and societal expectations. The character of Yellow Jim, a slave and the Poseys' half-brother, adds another layer of tension as he navigates his identity and relationships within the oppressive social structure. The interplay of these major characters reflects broader themes of honor, betrayal, and the personal struggles that unfold against the backdrop of a divided nation. Overall, the analysis invites readers to consider the profound impact of societal and familial legacies on individual choices and identities during a tumultuous historical period.
The Fathers: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Allen Tate
First published: 1938
Genre: Novel
Locale: Northern Virginia and Georgetown
Plot: Historical realism
Time: 1860–1861
Lacy Buchan (BUHK-an), the narrator of the novel. Now sixty years old and a bachelor, he was fifteen in April of 1860, when his mother died. He remembers the events of that year, the one before the beginning of the Civil War. The narrator is an educated, pensive man who wants to understand what happened to his family and why. The boy was torn between the tradition represented by his father and the more exciting lifestyle of George Posey. During the year in which the action of the novel takes place, Lacy falls in love with his brother-in-law's sister, Jane, but he does not have the courage to tell his brother, Semmes, who proposes to her. Lacy is confused by events; as an adult, he is confused by the meaning of the events. On the whole, he is an observer who joins the Confederate Army to be a man of action like his brother-in-law but generally finds himself watching and trying to understand or explain rather than change what is happening.
Major Lewis Buchan, Lacy's father. Major Buchan is a traditional but impractical man. His plantation, Pleasant Hill, is not profitable. He tries to free some of his slaves, but the man he has chosen to manage his affairs, his son-in-law, sells them instead. The major seems past his prime, unable to run his life or help his children. When discussions about the North and the South arise, he assumes that his sons are Unionists, as he is. When his son Semmes becomes a Confederate, the major disowns him. To him, honor is everything. When Union soldiers give him a half hour to get out of his house before they burn it, he refuses to tell them he is on their side; instead, he hangs himself in the house.
George Posey, Lacy's brother-in-law. Lacy sees George as a knight in shining armor. George, however, is pragmatic, not noble. He sells slaves his father-in-law wants to free; he even sells his own half brother, Jim, to buy a mare. Although he is able to win the bride he wants, he does not try to make their marriage succeed. George spends large sums of money to help his Confederate regiment, even though his rival, John Langton, is elected its captain.
Susan Posey, Lacy's sister and George's wife. Lacy blames Susan for manipulating the situation with him, his brother Semmes, and Susan's sister-in-law, Jane. She wants to manage Jane's affairs rather closely because Jane's father is dead and her mother is not capable of helping the girl. After Jim apparently rapes Jane, Susan is torn between wanting him killed and wanting to protect him. After her husband kills her brother Semmes, Susan's hair turns white and she becomes insane.
Jane Posey, Lacy's sister's fifteen-year-old sister-in-law. Lacy loves Jane for what he calls her vitality, but she perceives his love for her as boyish and agrees to marry his brother Semmes. Jane lives in a sheltered but impersonal household in which she is waited on by servants and escorted to a convent for music lessons. Her mentor is Susan, but neither Susan nor Jane's mother could protect her from her half brother, the slave Yellow Jim, of whom she had become afraid.
Yellow Jim, the Poseys' slave and Jane and George's half brother. Jim, son of the Poseys' cook, manages their household and even takes care of Jane. George sees him as “liquid capital” and sells him to buy an expensive horse. Insulted by an overseer who wants to make him a field hand, he runs away and returns to the Poseys. Insulted again when he overhears Jane say that she fears him, he later loses control and assaults her. When George's wife, Susan, urges him to run away, he refuses and stays to be killed by Jane's fiancé, Semmes Buchan.