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Character Analysis
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.
Neevah Mathis/Saint
Neevah is one of the two protagonists and point-of-view characters and is the female romantic lead in the novel. At the time that filming of Dessi Blue begins, she is 30 years old. When the story opens, Neevah is living in New York City with her roommate, Takira, and has a role as an understudy in a Broadway play. Neevah has long hair with a tight natural curl, light brown skin, and dark brown eyes. Aside from being her best friend, Takira is also Neevah’s hair and makeup stylist, as she has a particular talent for handling Black hair.
Neevah grew up in the town of Clearview, North Carolina, with an older sister, Terry. Their household was happy when Neevah was younger. After their father died from a heart attack when Neevah was 12, the Mathis women became closer. Neevah has great respect for her mother, who is a nurturing and even-tempered presence in her life. Neevah adored and looked up to Terry. She has many fond memories of playing together, and she always felt that her sister was beautiful, accomplished, and confident. Neevah’s trust and admiration in Terry was so complete that Terry sleeping with Brandon was not only a shock but also a complete betrayal.
More than the pain of losing Brandon, for whom she felt infatuation rather than genuine love, Neevah regrets the loss of her relationship with her sister. The pain of seeing them together has made her limit her visits back to North Carolina. Since her mother doesn’t like to fly, Neevah feels like she has lost her whole family, including missing out on knowing her niece, Quianna. To assuage this sense of loss, Neevah surrounds herself with people she respects and cares about and who support her in her career.
Neevah knew from an early age that she wanted to be a performer. She acted in high school, and a production that had a particular impact on her was Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. Neevah took her stage name of “Saint” from a line that was memorable to her: “Saints and poets, maybe” (4). She was offered a scholarship to Rutgers University to study drama, and thereafter, she moved to New York City, where she has worked hard for roles.
Neevah is a talented singer, dancer, and actor, and she feels that it is important to give her all in a performance. When he first sees her act, Canon notes that she has “[a] face so expressive it’s like a blank canvas she paints every emotion across in vivid color” (41). He also notes her physical shape: “Her body is toned and firm, not thin. There’s a ripeness to her, and she moves with a dancer’s easy grace,” with “a natural sensuality” (77). As he gets to know her, Canon realizes that Neevah is kind, down-to-earth, and straightforward in everything she does. He thinks of her as “genuine and sweet and funny” (142). She is loyal to those she loves, honest about her needs, and optimistic in her outlook. Rather than remaining bitter or guarded with her sister, Neevah takes the chance to open up to her mother and sister about how she feels and, over the course of the book, is able to repair those important relationships.
Part of Neevah’s character arc, in addition to falling in love for the first time, is dealing with her medical diagnosis, which is initially discoid lupus. Neevah wants to manage her condition using natural remedies like acupuncture and yoga to handle stress and by carefully monitoring her diet. It’s a disappointment to her when her flare-up during filming leads to her needing to take prednisone, a steroid, and she is fearful about what will happen when she learns that her kidneys are failing. Being confronted with this health scare, just when she realized how deeply she is in love with Canon, makes Neevah determined to live her life to the fullest. In keeping with her generous personality, she also is willing to talk about her medical condition with others in hopes of helping others who have also been diagnosed with lupus.
Canon Holt
Canon is the second protagonist and point-of-view character and is the male romantic lead in the novel. He grew up in Lemon Grove, California, as the only son of photographer Remy Holt. His father divorced his mother and moved to South Africa, where he eventually acquired a different family, and Canon has had little contact with him. Instead, Canon feels like he was primarily shaped by the bravery and artistic sensibility of his mother. She was a brave, passionate woman who was devoted to her work and refused to make sacrifices around her art, an attitude that Canon was deeply shaped by. Thanks to his mother’s influence, he is demanding of himself and lets his work as a director consume him completely. He knows that his mother was proud of him and remembers her advice to find a person to love. That happens for him when he meets Neevah.
Canon is seven years older than Neevah. She describes him as “[b]ig and brooding and brilliant” (82). She notes an intensity to him and says that he is “hungry to know, to understand, and his intellect and curiosity consume everything in his path” (82). She goes on to note, “[W]hen you are the subject of his lens, you feel like’s he’s hungry for you. Like he wants to understand exactly what it is he’s looking at” (82). He’s physically attractive, but Neevah also notices “[t]he intellect and curiosity mingled in his dark eyes” (117). She likes his personal style, which ranges from T-shirts, jeans, and hoodies to tailored suits.
Canon has a reputation for being exacting about his productions and demanding of his actors and crew. Neevah observes, “Canon did not get where he is playing games on set […] He is famous for his work ethic. For his obsessive focus” (215). His documentary The Magic Hour, featuring his mother, helped him break into directing as a career since the film won many major awards and drew critical acclaim. Since then, Canon has directed both documentaries and feature films. He is dedicated to telling stories that he feels need to be heard.
His previous affair with actress Camille Hensley ended badly, with Camille feeling hurt and vindictive. Canon was humiliated and angry when Camille managed to get him fired from the movie they were working on, and he’s bitter about the warnings of everyone around him not to get involved again with an actor he’s directing. However, Canon’s attraction to Neevah is so strong that he breaks this rule for her. He admires what he sees as her light and feels intense sexual arousal around her, but he is also drawn to her generosity and care for others, as this is what he’s missing in his life.
While he has strong professional relationships, Canon’s character arc involves falling in love and dealing with the emotional impact it has on him. After his mother died from complications attending her multiple sclerosis, Canon tried to bury and compartmentalize his grief to focus on his work and career. Falling in love with Neevah and confronting her health challenges with her encourages Canon to get in touch with his emotional side and learn to feel his emotions—joy as well as sorrow, pain along with delight.
Odessa “Dessi Blue” Johnson
Dessi is a fictional character invented for the novel to provide inspiration for Canon’s film. She is born as Odessa and is a Black woman born in Alabama in the early 20th century. She moves to New York City to find work, leaving her mother and family behind. She begins as a dishwasher and then works as a dance instructor at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. When Cal Hampton discovers her and launches her career as Dessi Blue, Dessi is glad to use her talents as a performer. She is bold, determined, intelligent, compassionate, and sensitive. The Epilogue that features Dessi looking back on her life also shows that, above her work as a performer, she values her contributions to the civil rights movement that won equal rights for Black Americans.
Dessi has a warm heart, and her first love is Tilda Hargrove, another hostess at the Savoy. When Tilda chooses the safety of heterosexual marriage, Dessi is hurt but recovers and goes on to love and have a good life with Cal, including raising a daughter, Katherine, whom they call Kitty. Dessi feels pleased at the tribute of the roadside sign that identifies the town as her birthplace and briefly describes her life. She is glad that she made this contribution and left a legacy.
Takira
Takira is a supporting character and foil to Neevah, playing the role of her best friend, confidant, and emotional support. Takira is originally from Trinidad, and she occasionally slips into her native accent around people she feels very comfortable with. Unlike Neevah, who tends to be diplomatic, Takira is bold, brash, and outspoken; Neevah admires “her swagger, her unfaltering confidence” (213).
Takira is a talented hair and makeup stylist, which is the reason Neevah uses to bring Takira to Los Angeles with her to work on the set of Dessi Blue. From there, Takira’s talent and buoyant personality lead her to become a stylist for many others, not just Neevah. Takira’s sexual exploits, like the disappointing encounter she has over the holiday break, provide a foil to the satisfying sexual and emotional relationship that Neevah is building with Canon. However, by the Epilogue, Takira also has a boyfriend she cares about, showing how her storyline is again an echo of and support to Neevah’s.
Takira provides comic relief, allowing Neevah space to express her feelings, and stands in for a sister while Neevah works through her difficult relationship with Terry. She reflects Neevah’s qualities of being practical, determined, focused, and hardworking but is also willing and able to enjoy life.
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