Buckeye

Becky is one of the novel’s primary characters. She is defined in large part by her belief in spiritualism and her practice of holding séances to speak to the dead. She “believe[s] the dead linger[] mostly because they ha[ve] something to say” (18), and she feels that her work as a medium is a service to her fellow townspeople. Becky’s interest in communicating with spirits is rooted in empathy rather than an interest in the macabre or the supernatural. She is a kind and caring individual who genuinely wants to help her friends and neighbors navigate grief and loss. Because Becky came of age in the years following WWI and then marries just as WWII is looming, there is no shortage of people with newly deceased loved ones. Becky’s spiritualism is, thus, also part of the novel’s broader examination of The Impact of War on Individual and Cultural Identity: Becky would not have so many spirits to contact without such large-scale armed conflicts.

Becky’s spiritualism is also part of the novel’s interrogation of conformity. She is comfortable with herself and does not strive to conform to societal standards of normalcy. She does not feel Cal’s shame at the stigma of being marked “different,” and because of that, she initially struggles in her marriage. Cal would rather have Becky conform and is drawn to Margaret in part because of his unhappiness with Becky, who does not fit his expectations.

Becky is also characterized by her forgiving nature and the wisdom that she absorbs from her parents about marriage and family. She does respond angrily when she learns of Cal’s affair, but she ultimately forgives him because she believes what her mother, Ida, has to say about marriage: Marriage is difficult, and spousal relationships often bear little resemblance to the idealized versions that are characterized as “normal.” Still, she advises, marriage has a stabilizing effect on families and can be a source of comfort for spouses, especially later in life, at the end of many decades together. Through Becky’s forgiveness and acceptance of herself and Cal, she contributes to the novel’s message about the utility of forgiveness and the value of long-term partnerships.

Margaret is one of the novel’s primary characters. She is Tom’s mother and, for a time, Felix’s wife. She is iconoclastic and values individualism over conformity. Margaret demonstrates this characteristic first after her move to Columbus. She was warned about sex before she left the orphanage, but she actively explores her sexuality despite the social stigma of premarital sex. She enjoys sex and has a series of short liaisons from which she hopes to find sex and companionship rather than long-term prospects or marriage. This open interest in sex and comfort with transgressive sexuality marks her as different from many of her peers and will remain with her for much of her life.

Margaret is also intelligent and interested in art and high culture. She demonstrated her intelligence early on and did administrative work in the orphanage. Although career options for women are limited when she moves to Columbus, and she mainly works in food service and retail positions, she explores her intellect in other ways. She attends art classes and frequents museums. She wants a different life than the one she would find in a traditional family, and partly because of that, she struggles when she marries Felix. Although she is relatively happy while the two are in Columbus, she does not enjoy Bonhomie’s lack of cultural opportunities and misses the big city. Her interest in art and other “fancy” pursuits marks her as different in Bonhomie, and many of the townspeople find her snobbish and overly sophisticated. She does not necessarily bristle at this characterization and struggles to make real friends in the town.

Margaret is also defined by her lack of interest in motherhood. While the other young “war wives” are happy when their husbands return and they can finally start families, Margaret is chagrined to find out that she is pregnant. In part because she was abandoned as a child and in part because she has never felt a genuine pull toward being a mother, Margaret does not share her peers’ excitement. While other women liken the feeling of their babies moving to butterflies, to Margaret, “[i]t fe[els] like there [a]re snakes in her stomach” (226). It is partly because of Margaret’s antipathy toward parenting that she leaves Felix and Tom. The author crafts complex, multi-faceted characters capable of both commendable and problematic behavior, and Margaret’s choice to leave Felix and Tom and return to Columbus alone is one of the novel’s most fraught moments. While the choice allows Felix to eventually pursue a romantic relationship with a man, it also negatively impacts Tom and severs their relationship. While the novel is ambiguous about whether this choice makes Margaret happy, she does observe that marriage is “unbearably lonely,” and it is evident that for her, being single is preferable to marriage to a man who can never love her.

Felix is one of the novel’s key characters and Margaret’s husband. “A model of propriety” (118), Felix is initially characterized by his good manners and the respect with which he treats Margaret during their courtship. Felix is kind, does not attempt to engage in pre-marital sex with Margaret (which was, at that time, still taboo), and does his best to provide Margaret with a solid, middle-class life. He is ambitious at work and well respected by his superiors and colleagues. He is intelligent, driven, and wants to be successful. However, Felix’s well-mannered and hardworking exterior hides an inner secret, and through his and Margaret’s marriage, the novel explores The Impact of Secrets on Marriage and Family. Felix is not attracted to women and has even had a few clandestine encounters with other men. His father is aware of Felix’s sexuality and does his best to orient Felix toward women and a reputable career. This causes strain in their relationship, and Felix becomes one of the many characters in this novel who struggle to maintain healthy bonds with their parents.

Although Felix remains kind and caring toward Margaret, he is not sexually attracted to her, and their relationship falters as a result. Their marriage’s first real test comes when Felix enlists in the US Navy during WWII. While overseas, he has a romantic relationship with another sailor, Augie, and is devastated when Augie dies. Felix, who was wounded in the same torpedo attack that killed Augie, feels guilty for having survived, traumatized by the experience, and grief-stricken at the loss of the love of his life. When Felix returns from the war, he has PTSD and finds it difficult to resume normal activities at work or at home. His struggles to reintegrate into life at home connect him with several other characters with similar difficulties and become part of this book’s broader examination of the devastating impact of war on soldiers and civilians.

Felix is also characterized, however, by his parenting. He is a loving, devoted father to Tom, even after he finds out that Tom is Cal’s biological son. Felix, now partially recovered from the trauma of his wartime experience, is circumspect and has a wisdom that he lacked as a young man. He weathers the shock of finding out that Tom is not his son alongside Margaret’s abandonment, remaining Tom’s primary support system and source of stability. He also remains respectful to Cal. He is angry, but he never lets that anger boil over and does his best to keep Tom’s best interests at heart. He maintains hope that he and Tom will be able to reconcile, even after Tom stops speaking to him. Even during the final days of his life, when he is dying, Felix remains calm and caring.

Tom is Margaret and Cal’s son. Until she discovers Felix’s secret, Margaret claims that Felix is Tom’s father. Eventually, however, she reveals the truth of Tom’s parentage. Tom has bright red hair like his mother but inherits his cowlick from Cal. This cowlick helps Margaret identify him as Cal’s son. Tom gets his temperament from Margaret, and even when he’s a child, Margaret observes that “his temper frighten[s] her” (244). He has a fiery personality and is often at odds with Margaret, although he does get along better with his father, peers, and teachers. The novel’s broader implication is that Margaret herself affects Tom’s behavior because she struggles to love him or even to have much affection for him. When Margaret leaves, Tom’s behavior becomes even more erratic. It is evident to both Felix and his teachers that he has “a lot of anger towards his mother” (334), and that anger reshapes how he behaves with his peers and classmates.

Tom is driven and has ambition and a sense of purpose, and after high school, he attends college in Toledo. He is gifted in engineering but pursues a degree in communications so that he can go into radio. Tom is also passionate about the Vietnam War. In part because of Skip’s experiences but also because of his general pacifism, Tom joins the anti-war movement, giving the narrative the opportunity to explore the social context of the US in the 1960s.

Tom is also characterized by fractured relationships. He struggles with his anger toward Margaret for much of his life and resents Felix and Cal for keeping his parentage a secret. He and Felix become estranged, but Tom demonstrates the love that he still feels for Felix when he moves home to care for Felix when he becomes ill. This spirit of understanding also allows him to reach out to Margaret, and the two meet for the first time during his adult life because of it. His reunion with her is stilted, however, and the author is ambiguous as to whether Tom forgives her.

Skip is Cal and Becky’s son. As a young man, he befriends Tom and demonstrates his empathy and concern for others when he intervenes on Tom’s behalf during a fight. The two maintain a friendship despite their two-year age gap for much of the novel, and Skip remains a brotherly, caring presence in Tom’s life. That Skip’s interest in Tom is so genuine and caring is a nod to the fact that they are brothers, although neither knows it, and Skip will never find out.

As an adolescent, Skip lacks direction. He is unsure of what kind of career he might want to pursue after college and ultimately enlists in the Vietnam War. While in Vietnam, he discovers what his father’s generation discovered in WWII and his grandfather’s generation discovered in WWI: that war is hellish and brutal and not the source of glory that so many people claim.

Skip’s character becomes one of this novel’s key points of engagement with the impact of war on individuals and families: He openly wonders why veterans talk so little about the war and feels that if they were more open about their experiences, then perhaps people would be less interested in becoming military combatants. Skip’s time in Vietnam helps Tom to crystallize his own views on the war and is a key part of why Tom joins the peace movement. That Skip dies during the Tet Offensive, one of the war’s most notorious events, is also a key aspect of this novel’s engagement with the history of the 20th century: Like so many real-life soldiers, Skip’s military service ends in death and irrevocably alters the fabric of his family.

Ida and Roman are minor characters but remain an important part of the novel’s nuanced exploration of the complexities of family relationships. Roman owns but prefers to remain uninvolved in several area businesses. Although he is wary of Cal at first, he gives Cal a job managing his hardware store, and the two form a bond as the years go by. Roman is a bigot who mistrusts immigrants and values conformity, and because of his traditionalism, he treats Becky’s spiritualism with as much skepticism as Cal. The two bond over their shared irritation with the attention that Becky’s séances bring to the family and remain united on that front throughout Roman’s life. Roman, although at times intractable, has a more thorough understanding of marriage than Cal and shares his wisdom with him during Cal and Becky’s separation. Ultimately, both Roman and Ida argue that most marriages can weather these troubled times and that spouses are stronger when they stay together. Separately, Ida echoes this wisdom to Becky, although her advice is even more circumspect than Roman’s. Ida sees marriage from her unique perspective and can offer Becky advice on how to stay married to someone who is sometimes difficult. Like Roman, however, she sees marriage as a stabilizing force and cautions Becky against giving up on a relationship that, although difficult at times, might very well prove beneficial to both her and Cal later in life.