60 pages • 2-hour read
Fever Beach
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Character Analysis
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, death, sexual content, child sexual abuse, and religious discrimination.
Dale Figgo
Dale Figgo, one of the book’s three protagonists, is a 37-year-old white man who works in a warehouse packing sex toys. He is described as a large man with “[s]uper-hairy arms” and a patchy beard that “[looks] like ginger pubes” (30). He is a former member of the Proud Boys but was kicked out of the group for smearing feces on a Confederate statue he mistook for a Union statue during the January 6th insurrection. Several other high-profile hate groups have declined his membership, and so he has formed his own, the comically named “Strokers for Liberty,” a reference to his habit of frequent masturbation—a habit vehemently shunned by his former Proud Boy comrades. Viva sums up Figgo as a “bigot, slob, conspiracy nut, and hatemonger” (13).
Despite his repugnant politics, Figgo is intended as a comic figure—one that points out how directionless people lacking education, ethics, and empathy are susceptible to radicalization by extremists. His character functions as an illustration of The Nature of Political Extremism, portraying extremism as both dangerous and ridiculous. Figgo clearly lacks both ethics and empathy—he has been repeatedly fired for stealing but tells people that it was because of his supervisors’ prejudice against white men. He deliberately hits Noel with his truck and then, when he himself rides a bike into the side of another truck, he blames an imaginary immigrant. He is a negligent landlord, a bad friend, and a person who cultivates self-esteem by attempting to oppress others. Figgo’s refusal to accept responsibility or accountability throughout the novel is a feature of Hiaasen’s portrayal of far-right extremists throughout the novel.
Figgo is also portrayed as lacking both education and intellect—his own mother thinks of him as “a moron.” Hiaasen uses Figgo’s dialogue, which features a constant misuse of language, as a humorous characteristic that illustrates his lack of education. His speech is full of eggcorns, malapropisms, and mondegreens. He warns about the “Zionist cowbell,” for example, when what he means is Zionist cabal, a mondegreen that results from hearing a phrase without ever seeing it in print and misinterpreting what has been spoken due to a lack of critical thought. He angrily accuses the hitchhiker in Chapter 1 of trying to “proof-teach” his work, an eggcorn for “proof-read” (4). Figgo also makes comical spelling errors, such as his t-shirt that says, “White Lives Madder” (30).
Figgo’s character remains static throughout the novel. His ignorance, lack of ethics and empathy, and poor judgment get him into several absurd predicaments, like the fight at the Key West drag show. He comes to a terrible but comically ironic end when he chooses to scale a flagpole to destroy a gay pride flag instead of simply lowering the flag itself. In both his life and death, Figgo is a ridiculous figure who functions as a key element of the text’s satire of the extreme American right.
Twilly Spree
Twilly, another of the book’s protagonists, is a divorced middle-aged man with inherited wealth that guarantees he will never have to work. He lives simply, however, wearing inexpensive, well-worn clothing and driving a midrange vehicle that he takes no pains to keep in showroom condition. Viva notes that he “[has] no interest in impressing anybody” (105).
Twilly is an illustration of the story’s contentions about Authentic Morality Versus Moral Facade. He has a long record of crimes motivated by his passionate environmentalism and is willing to sacrifice his safety and freedom on behalf of defenseless animals and the environment. He is a compassionate person who does things like trap feral cats and fit them with collars with bells so that they cannot sneak up on songbirds.
On the other hand, Twilly is also restless and a loner, staying on the move by living a few days at a time in each of several different apartments he keeps around Florida. He is willing to use violence and threats in the service of his own moral ideals. He has been ordered by several courts to attend anger management therapy, and Viva points out several instances in which he is angered over something that other people, who didn’t have the time to be incensed, would look past. Although he attends therapy as directed, Twilly is impervious to their treatments. He is a man with firm beliefs that do not change, convinced that both his anger and his cause are righteous. He is a complex character, neither all good nor all bad.
Twilly pursues Viva in a way that demonstrates his confidence, his drive, and his sometimes-hazy understanding of others’ boundaries. On the plane, he continues to force a conversation with Viva after she makes it clear she does not want to talk. He uses her discarded magazine to track her down, a move that could be seen as stalking. After Viva jokes about calling the police, however, he backs off, letting her contact him when she feels comfortable doing so. Thereafter, he is respectful toward Viva and goes out of his way to help her with her crusade against the Minks’ charity fraud, showing that he has genuinely good intentions toward her. Although the relationship between Twilly and Viva is still somewhat casual by the end of the novel, Twilly has given up a little of his loner status, clearly intending to continue the relationship long-term. Although his character remains static in terms of his environmentalism and his approach to issues, the changes he makes with regard to his relationship with Viva show him to be a dynamic character on a personal level.
Viva Morales
Viva, the novel’s third protagonist, is a woman who has recently moved to Florida from Minnesota following an ugly divorce. Her ex-husband ended their four-year marriage abruptly after stealing her life savings and racking up a large debt. This backstory creates empathy for Viva, as does her current misery living with Figgo. Viva is one of the narrative’s least problematic figures and represents the vast majority of real-life, middle-class people. She is willing to make small moral compromises and does not go out of her way to confront complex ethical issues, but she will not ignore larger moral issues and takes a firm stand on these, showing what it means to exhibit authentic morality.
Because it is practical to live with Figgo and work for the Minks, she does so, despite Figgo’s racism and the Minks’ complicity in environmental damage. She has no interest in the sleazy Clure Boyette, however: Even though his wealth and power could solve many of her problems, Clure is too far over the moral line for Viva. In addition, as soon as she is made aware of her employers’ complicity in charity fraud, Viva is determined to do the right thing in exposing them, despite the risk to her safety and security.
Viva is a no-nonsense person who knows her own mind and has the confidence to erect firm boundaries. On the plane, she does not explain to Twilly why she does not want to talk with him; she simply tells him, “Hush.” She makes it clear to Figgo that she does not share his beliefs and expects him to keep his activities from impacting her enjoyment of the space she rents from him. Viva is also not above mild violence as a means to enforce her boundaries: She hits Figgo, for instance, when he calls her a derogatory name.
Viva’s moral weaknesses are relatively minor, however—particularly compared to characters like Clure and the Minks—and make her both relatable and amusing. She is also a dynamic character, as her involvement with the excavator explosion near the end of the novel shows. Her experiences with Clure and the Minks and her relationship with Twilly change her beliefs about what kinds of moral offenses must be addressed, and she shifts the moral lines she is willing to cross in order to address them.
Viva is also a clever and observant woman with a sharp wit that helps create the book’s satirical atmosphere. Her banter with Twilly and piercing observations about other people are a key part of the book’s humor. Her constant tattling on Figgo to his mother, her tricking of Clure in the hotel room, and her cooperation with the repo company looking for Figgo’s truck are all examples of comical actions Viva takes that support the book’s overall tone and atmosphere.
Clure Boyette
Clure Boyette is a corrupt right-wing congressman running for reelection in Florida, and he functions as the narrative’s antagonist. Clure is portrayed as a sleazy, selfish person of limited abilities who capitalizes on his father’s power and the political leanings of his home district to hold on to a leadership position that he does not deserve. Clure’s character is thus a key part of the novel’s considerations of authentic morality versus moral facade and The Corrupting Influence of Dark Money.
His opponents point out that he is “the lazy horndog spawn of a rich crafty fixer,” but the truth of this criticism does not sway many voters in Clure’s district, which is “the deepest of red” (42). Clure is a satirical figure, embodying stereotypical beliefs about the incompetence, corruption, and greed of right-wing politicians. His ability to stay in power despite his unsuitability as a public servant also serves as a critique of right-wing voters. Although Clure Boyette is an exaggerated caricature of a villain, his character does have some basis in the real-world scandals several Florida politicians have been involved in.
Clure’s appearance characterizes him as both a ridiculous and deliberately manipulative person. When Viva first meets him, she notes his tall, gangly frame and the sharpness of his features and thinks that he looks like “an anime woodpecker in a pinstriped suit” (24). He dresses conservatively, in clothing coded to advertise his membership in the American right wing: He wears lapel pins of an American flag and the Florida state flag, and “a red necktie featuring the entire text of the Second Amendment” (24). Clure’s concern with appearances is conveyed, too, by his teeth—so perfectly enhanced by dentistry that they actually look fake.
Clure is impulsive, undisciplined, and lacks empathy for others. Despite his high-profile position, he uses illegal drugs and drinks to excess with no thought to accountability, assuming that his privilege will save him. He cheats on his wife constantly, depending on his wealth to buy her forgiveness afterward. He is arrogant and treats others as if his time and needs are more important than theirs, assuming that he is entitled to special treatment because of his position and power. He even engages in a sexual relationship with Galaxy, whom he believes to be underage. Clure is a static character who approaches caricature, used by Hiaasen to flesh out all the worst stereotypes of selfish, corrupt politicians.
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