Vein of Iron: Analysis of Major Characters
"Vein of Iron" is a novel that intricately weaves the lives of its major characters against the backdrop of family heritage and personal struggles. At its center is Ada Fincastle, a sensitive and resilient ten-year-old whose deep-rooted beliefs in the goodness of life guide her through various challenges. The narrative explores her relationships within the Fincastle family, including her strong-willed Grandmother Fincastle, who embodies religious faith and survival amidst poverty, and her father, John Fincastle, a philosopher grappling with existential questions and societal expectations after losing his ministerial position.
Ralph McBride, Ada's childhood companion, represents the complexities of love and societal pressures, particularly when faced with unplanned circumstances. Other key figures include Meggie Fincastle, whose steadfast nature provides stability, and Mary Evelyn, whose optimism contrasts with the family's struggles. Dr. Updike serves as a supportive yet practical presence, offering guidance and care during tumultuous times. Together, these characters navigate the intricacies of family loyalty, personal growth, and the inescapable impacts of their predestined paths, creating a rich tapestry of human experience that resonates throughout the novel.
Vein of Iron: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Ellen Glasgow
First published: 1935
Genre: Novel
Locale: Ironside and Queensborough, Virginia
Plot: Family
Time: 1900–1935
Ada Fincastle, later McBride, a ten-year-old when the novel opens, the daughter of John Fincastle, a defrocked Presbyterian minister. Sensitive to people and nature, she instinctively understands that her role in life is to make the best of every situation. Drawing heavily on the “vein of iron” that is the bloodline of her heritage (beginning with Great-Great-Grandmother Martha Tod, who was held captive and married to a young chief by the Indians and then returned to civilized Christianity), Ada has a deep faith in the ultimate goodness of life and in the necessity of accepting one's predestined fate. Growing up in Ironside, Virginia, she experiences disappointment, loss, and great happiness. Ada is the moral, financial, and ethical glue that keeps the family from falling into chaos. Throughout the thirty-five years of her life that the novel chronicles, Ada is faithful to her heritage, her sense of what is appropriate, and her deeply felt understanding of the strength of love. As the novel ends, she moves Ralph, their son Rannie, and herself back to the manse in Ironside, believing that if they try, they will succeed.
Grandmother Fincastle, John's mother and Ada's grandmother, who is seventy years old as the novel opens. She is the strength holding the family together in the manse during the era of family poverty after John's dismissal from the pulpit. Deeply religious and a survivor, she believes that the Lord will provide and is content with what life gives. Of her nine children, only John and Meggie survived to adulthood. Her consistency in activity and belief gives meaning to the Fincastle home. Despite her disapproval of Ada's pregnancy, she assists at the birth of Rannie. She dies after a fall in 1917.
John Fincastle, Ada's father, the fourth to carry the name. He is, a world-renowned philosopher who lost his pulpit for preaching Baruch Spinoza's god and not Abraham's. He is forty-four years old as the novel begins, unemployed, living in his family's manse, and writing his (ultimately) five-volume philosophical opus. At the suggestion of Dr. Updike, the family physician and friend, he opens a school in one room of the manse and is able to maintain periodic payments on his insurance and the mortgage. His two years of study in England, mainly in the British Museum, have driven him away from the firm Presbyterian beliefs of his ancestors and mother. A loner for much of his life, he is able to accept things as they occur, even the early death of his beloved Mary Evelyn and the necessity of abandoning the manse and moving to Queensborough. In town, he becomes a bit more human, develops friendships that were denied to him in Iron-side, and even stands with others in the bread lines. When he feels his own death coming, he slips away and returns to Ironside. He dies early in 1935 at the manse, alone.
Ralph McBride, Ada's childhood playmate. Ralph is two years older than Ada. His family is even poorer than the Fincastles, but his mother has instilled in him the virtues of work and duty. Ada admires him from the beginning. When Janet Rowan's family accuses Ralph of fathering the child she is carrying and forces him to marry her, Ada is devastated. Ralph returns in 1913 for Mary Evelyn's funeral, and Ada promises to leave with him when he is free. In 1917, he and Ada spend a weekend in a cabin in the mountains, and Ada becomes pregnant. Ralph serves his time in France and comes home a different man, quieter, more morose, and less optimistic. Janet divorces him, making him and Ada free to marry. Their time in Queensborough is a time of hardship and joy, a mixed bag of success and failure as the Depression forces him from temporary job to temporary job.
Meggie Fincastle, John's unmarried sister and the de facto keeper of the house, aged thirty-three at the beginning of the novel. Like her mother, she is a stabilizing force by virtue of her consistency and insistence on doing things as they must and need be done. Her beliefs are firm and unchangeable. A Good Samaritan by nature, she helps, whenever and however she can, anyone who needs help.
Mary Evelyn Fincastle, a woman in her early forties as the novel begins. She is from similar pioneer stock to that of the Fincastles. Bright, sprightly, overly optimistic, and publicly cheerful, she is the sunshine in an otherwise often-dulled existence. She is dying slowly of an undisclosed illness, which claims her life in August, 1913. Her marriage to John was a good marriage, and his grief at her death and after is genuine.
Dr. Updike, the Fincastle family physician and a friend of the family, forty years old as the novel begins. He takes care of Mary Evelyn in her illness, suggests to John that he start a school in the manse, and eventually buys the manse when the Fincastles have to leave.