Dept. of Speculation

The husband is one of the novel’s primary characters. Throughout the first half of the narrative, the narrator refers to him using the direct address—or second-person pronouns (“you”). This formal choice creates an intimate tone throughout Chapters 1 through 21 that mimics a love letter from the narrator to the husband. In Chapter 22, when the narrator discovers that the husband is having an affair, she begins to refer to him as “the husband,” a formal shift that illustrates the distance growing between the spouses. Because the narrator feels betrayed by the husband, he starts to feel like a stranger to her. Simply calling him “the husband” makes the man appear to be any husband figure; he loses his distinct dimension because the narrator suddenly feels as if she does not know him.

The husband is a friend and coworker of the philosopher—one of the narrator’s closest friends. He is also a fellow artist—the philosopher suggests that she meet the husband after they spend a night talking about the city and its different sounds. When the narrator and the husband meet, the husband is “adjuncting […] and doing late nights at the radio station” while intermittently making “soundscapes of the city” (12). The first time the narrator hears his soundscapes, his work offers her a window into his character and a distinct way of experiencing the world. The two get along right away, as they both have artistic sensibilities, and quickly become engaged and married. The narrator is surprised by their relationship because she used to swear that she’d never get married, but she loves the husband enough to create a life together.

As a character, the husband isn’t as well developed as the narrator, and his identity becomes foggier over the course of the novel as the narrator begins to question her understanding of him. At the start of his and the narrator’s relationship, the narrator is more attuned to the husband and relies on his presence at home. For example, after she loses her first baby, she remarks on the sweet things he does for her to alleviate her grief. After they have their first child, the narrator also notes how caring the husband is towards their daughter—picking the lice from her hair and reading to her every night before bed. However, such passages dissipate from the moment the narrator discovers that he is having an affair—a decision he tells the narrator was inspired by the girl’s interest in him and the narrator’s “difficult” personality.

The husband acts as a pseudo-antagonist of the narrator. He isn’t conventionally malicious, but his affair with the girl disrupts the narrator’s world, causes her pain, and compels her to question herself. Ultimately, he redeems himself when he ends his relationship with the girl, moves to the country with the narrator and their daughter, and makes amends.

The philosopher is a secondary character. He is the narrator’s close friend, and the narrator refers to him simply as “the philosopher” throughout the novel. His character appears throughout Dept. of Speculation as he is one of the only people with whom the narrator spends time in the city. His apartment is her favorite place to hang out because it feels more peaceful than other places in New York, particularly her own Brooklyn apartment. Like the narrator, the philosopher is also a deep thinker—as his moniker implies—and is open to sharing ideas with her. The two often engage in stimulating discourses about life, relationships, science, and meaning and purpose. The philosopher at times acts as a guide for the narrator, and he is a reliable and consistent presence in her life. She can rely on him throughout her personal growth journey and knows that he will always be there for her. His character doesn’t exhibit significant signs of change, but his seeming changelessness is a sign of his reliability rather than his stubbornness. His character thus plays an essential role in the narrator’s story; he is both an emotional touchstone and a voice of reason.

The narrator’s sister is another of the novel’s secondary characters. Like most of the characters, the sister remains unnamed and is simply referred to as “my sister” or “the sister.” In the early chapters of the novel, the narrator keeps in touch with her over the phone; the sister rarely appears in scene because four years before the narrative present, “she and her husband left” the city and “moved to Pennsylvania to an old ramshackle house on the Delaware River” (11, 12). The sister is supportive of the narrator but also encourages her to leave New York because she doesn’t think urban life suits her any longer. Unlike the philosopher, she doesn’t just listen and talk; she advises and offers a path toward meaningful change.

The sister acts as another guide in the narrator’s life. She remains static and doesn’t have a traditional character arc because she is a supporting figure. Much like the narrator’s relationship with the philosopher, she knows that she can rely on her sister. They talk about difficult topics openly, an intimacy that is in part inspired by their shared difficult upbringing. The sisters specifically discuss how challenges in childhood affect the individual later in life when the narrator goes to visit the sister in London shortly after learning about the husband’s affair. This deep and meaningful relationship also offers the narrator a touchstone when she is feeling alone, confused, and unmoored.