Suttree: Analysis of Major Characters
"Suttree: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the intricate web of relationships and thematic elements surrounding the protagonist, Cornelius Suttree. Known to his friends as Sut and to his family as Buddy, Suttree is a well-educated man who has left behind his conventional life to live on a houseboat along the Tennessee River. His character is marked by a profound sense of detachment, illustrated by his frequent encounters with death and his friendships with marginalized individuals, including the comedic Gene Harrogate and the formidable Abednego Jones. The narrative delves into Suttree's struggles with identity, loss, and societal rejection, paralleling the lives of other characters like Reese, a ne'er-do-well who leads Suttree into a disastrous venture, and Joyce, a lover whose support ultimately fuels Suttree's dependency and bitterness.
Through the diverse and often tragic experiences of its characters, the story reflects on themes of mortality, the search for belonging, and the harsh realities faced by those on the fringes of society. Each character contributes to a broader commentary on human connection and resilience amidst suffering, with Suttree's journey serving as a poignant exploration of life’s complexities. This analysis provides a deeper understanding of the interplay between Suttree and the colorful cast that populates his disjointed world, inviting readers to reflect on their own perceptions of existence and community.
Suttree: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Cormac McCarthy
First published: 1979
Genre: Novel
Locale: Knoxville, Tennessee, and the surrounding area
Plot: Impressionistic realism
Time: 1951–1955
Cornelius Suttree, called Buddy by his family, Sut by his friends, and Youngblood by Abednego Jones. He is an intelligent and well-educated man of approximately thirty who, for reasons never explicitly divulged, has left his wife and child and gone to live in a houseboat moored to the banks of the Tennessee River. Born with a dead identical twin, Suttree suffers from a sort of double vision: He lives half in this world and half in the next, and he views each from the perspective of the other. He makes a meager living by fishing and spends the rest of his time either taking care of or getting drunk with an assortment of mostly homeless and alcoholic outcasts who are his friends. In the course of his disjointed but thematically coherent adventures, Suttree undergoes a series of encounters with the dead and with death, from the floating corpse that opens the novel to the corpse in his bed that closes it. Not only do many of Suttree's friends die (through violence, neglect, or disaster), but Suttree himself is hospitalized three times in the novel as well, twice as a result of barroom brawls and once for an advanced and untreated case of tuberculosis. Suttree makes three excursions from Knoxville. The first is to attend the funeral of his son; the second is into the Smoky Mountains, where he wanders without food or shelter for more than a month in an effort to lay his demons to rest; and the third is to the French Broads of the Tennessee River, with Reese, in an ill-fated attempt to make money by gathering mussel shells and freshwater pearls. At the end of the novel, most of his friends are dead or gone, and his already tenuous ties to the material world are loosened still further by his lengthy and near-fatal illness. He leaves McAnally Flats one step ahead of the death that hounds him.
Gene Harrogate, also called the City Mouse, who meets Suttree in the workhouse, to which he has been sent for the unusual crime of melon-mounting. Harrogate is a misfit even among misfits and serves as Suttree's comic twin; his hare-brained get-rich-quick schemes provide some of the novel's lighter moments.
Abednego (Ab) Jones, a huge black man, one of Suttree's closest friends. With his wife, Doll, Ab runs an unlicensed tavern in his houseboat. Ab tells Suttree that the police “don't like no nigger walkin' around like a man.” Because Ab refuses to be intimidated, he is frequently and violently incarcerated. Suttree is involved in Ab's two unsuccessful attempts to get Mother She to destroy his enemies for him and is present during Ab's last epic battle with the police. Ab is finally beaten to death in jail.
Reese, a raft-dwelling ne'er-do-well. He persuades Suttree to undertake his only experiment with earning a living through hard work. The experiment is a miserable failure, and the expedition culminates in death and destruction.
Wanda, Reese's daughter and one of Suttree's lovers. She is killed in a rockfall at the French Broads camp.
Joyce, Suttree's lover after Wanda. Joyce is a prostitute from Chicago who supports Suttree in lavish style until his dependency embitters him, and his bitterness drives her temporarily mad.
Mother She, also called Miss Mother, an ancient black witch who takes a particular interest in Suttree. In a hallucinatory episode toward the end of the novel, she gives him “the second sight.”
Billy Ray “Red” Callahan, a bully and a petty thief who rescues Harrogate from an assailant in the workhouse, generally wreaks havoc, and is finally shot in the head by a bartender. After the shooting, he lingers in a vegetable state until a hospital orderly pours rubbing alcohol into his wound.
The ragpicker, Suttree's most philosophical friend. Asked whether he believes in God, the ragpicker replies, “I got no reason to think he believes in me.”
Michael, an Indian fisherman. He and Suttree become friends when Suttree defends him from a racist attack. He returns to seek help from Suttree during the latter's brief period of prosperity with Joyce, but Suttree ignores his knock.
Daddy Watson, a retired and senile railroad engineer. Until he is committed to an asylum, Daddy lives in an abandoned railroad car near Suttree's houseboat.
Leonard, a male prostitute. Suttree is recruited by Leonard to assist in disposing of the corpse of Leonard's father, which the family has been hiding for months so that they can continue collecting his Social Security payments.
Grace Suttree, Suttree's mother. Grace appears only once in the novel, when she visits Suttree in the workhouse, but she is one of several characters, such as Suttree's dead twin, who are more important than they are visible.