In the Shadow of the Wind: Analysis of Major Characters
"In the Shadow of the Wind: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the complex interpersonal dynamics and psychological conflicts among a group of characters residing in the isolated community of Griffin Creek. Central to the narrative is Stevens Brown, who returns home after a tumultuous past and grapples with deep-seated familial trauma, ultimately leading to a tragic act of violence against his cousins, Olivia and Nora Atkins. Olivia, portrayed as both beautiful and restrained, symbolizes an intertwining of personal and ancestral memories, while her counterpart, Nora, embodies youthful vitality and provocation.
Nicholas Jones, the clergyman and patriarch, reflects oppressive familial and societal structures, influencing the lives around him with his authoritarian presence. Percival Brown, Stevens' brother, provides a unique perspective through his innocent observations, often revealing deeper truths about the family. Other significant characters include Felicity Jones, the matriarch who finds solace in the sea, and Irene Jones, who embodies silence and repression in the face of domestic turmoil. The narrative interweaves themes of love, loss, and the haunting legacies of family, compelling readers to consider the intricate connections that shape individual destinies within this tragic tale.
In the Shadow of the Wind: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Anne Hébert
First published: Les Fous de Bassan, 1982 (English translation, 1983)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Fictional Griffin Creek, between Québec City and the Atlantic Ocean; and Montreal
Plot: Psychological
Time: The summer and autumn of 1936 and the autumn of 1982
Stevens Brown, who returns home at the age of twenty, five years after a battle with his father. His letters to a friend in Florida sketch isolated Griffin Creek, settled in 1782 by Royalist exiles from the American Revolution. Their descendants have intermarried for generations. He is the most intense of the violent family men, scarred by his father's brutality and his mother's rejection. He is obsessed with two cousins who have matured into women during his absence. On August 31, 1936, driven by a storm of emotion, he strangles his cousins and sinks their bodies in the sea. In 1982, he surfaces in Montreal, having escaped from a veterans' hospital where he had lived, insane, since fighting in World War II. His last letter and suicide note close the novel.
Olivia Atkins, the housemaid and prisoner of her father and older brothers. She hopes for Stevens'love but fears his latent violence. At the age of seventeen, she is perfect in physical beauty and dutiful domesticity. After death, she is transmuted into the lyric narrative voice “Olivia of the High Seas,” in communion with the spirits of her female ancestors. She reflects on the memories of her cousin Stevens and her physical life and family, but she is drawn toward dissolution in the ocean, which is “Mère” (mother) as well as “Mer” (sea).
Nora Atkins, the double cousin of Olivia, fifteen years old in the summer of 1936. She is caught in passion for Stevens. Red-haired like her uncle, Nicholas Jones, and a child of the sun, she revels in her developing body. Her narrative voice celebrates summer and youth. Olivia is outwardly cool, identified with the sea; Nora is earthy and provocative. Her taunts and reproaches to Stevens catalyze his rage. She is the first of the cousins to die. Her body washes ashore, to be buried in Griffin Creek, whereas Olivia's body drifts out to sea.
Nicholas Jones, an Anglican clergyman, the uncle of Stevens and his victims. He is the opening narrator. In 1982, he plans a memorial to the moribund Griffin Creek, painting portraits of male ancestors, modeled on himself. He remembers the power of his beautiful youthful voice, how he used his position to rule Griffin Creek and try to win love from his mother, and how lust for his adolescent nieces awoke the storm of passion that scattered his congregation. A domestic tyrant, he embodies the patriarchal systems of church and government.
Percival Brown, Stevens' brother, who is fifteen years old in 1936. He is the only person who loves and is loved by Stevens. He is the family “idiot,” a giant with a cherub's face who often screams instead of talking. He broods on the physical transformation of his maturing cousins but cannot compete for them. He observes the other characters and reports on the disappearance of his cousins and the recovery of relics from the sea. Percival's inner voice is poetic. His sentences are spare and broken, but he sees beyond individuals to their symbolic roles. Percival recognizes his grandmother Felicity as a dolphin, an incarnation of the sea. Percival alerts Irene Jones to her husband's lust for Olivia and Nora.
Felicity Jones, the matriarch of Griffin Creek. Wounded by her husband's chronic infidelity, she loves only her daughters and granddaughters. She rises daily to swim before dawn, taking Nora and Olivia with her. She finds her true nature in the sea.
Irene Jones, the parson's wife. She is silent, cold, and barren. She seems passionless and is the only person who will not dance at the barn dance. After her husband's attempted molestation of Nora, she efficiently hangs herself.
Pam Brown and Pat Brown, identical twins, sisters of Stevens and Percival. They are innocent observers of the summer drama. Servants to Nicholas Jones, they survive as “old little girls” in 1982. Their portraits of Irene, Nora, and Olivia force Nicholas Jones to remember.
Maureen Macdonald, the widowed kinswoman of the Brown and Atkins families who welcomes Stevens into her home and bed when he returns to Griffin Creek. She pays for her brief summer of renewed sexuality with the pain of Stevens'rejection at summer's end and the horror of guessing his role in the disappearance of Nora and Olivia.
John Erwin McKenna, an Anglophone detective from Montreal who investigates the disappearance of the Atkins girls. Detested by Percival, he is described as obese and greasy. He alternately cajoles and bullies Stevens into a confession that later is disallowed in court.