Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire

Earl is one of the novel’s primary characters and the antagonist of the narrative. His character is emblematic of evil itself, as he satisfies the qualities of an archetypal villain. Earl was once just a traveling salesman. When he first came to Foxfire, he offered the townspeople quality goods for affordable prices. Over time, however, he discovered he could steal magic from the neighboring mountain and forests and wield it against the people for his own gain. He started making more lopsided bargains with the townspeople, demanding that they give him their vitality in exchange for rotting food or simple favors. When Earl failed to make good on one such bargain, the townspeople expelled him. Ever since, Earl has lived on the mountain, stealing power from an abandoned mine and using it to control the vulnerable townspeople in the valley below.

When Earl and Verity meet for the first time, Verity is shocked by Earl’s appearance: He has “two mismatched legs, one of a man and the other of a goat,” his torso is a compilation of “bark and flesh and moss and bone creating a hulking mass,” his arms are “withered with some of the flesh rotting to reveal white bone underneath,” and his hands are “large with bulbous knuckles and bright, sharp fingernails” (160). Earl’s grotesque physicality is an amalgam of all the people, plants, and animals he has abused and victimized. He has stolen parts of others to create this new monstrous form. He has even taken the souls and spirits of those he has killed to control the natural world.

Earl uses his power for evil, making him a foil for Verity, who is focused on using her power for good. No matter how much power he attains, he always wants more. He never uses it to help others, and rather seeks to destroy anyone and everything that gets in his way. When Verity presents herself as his opponent, Earl is flabbergasted. He sees her as a pitiful child trying to use nursery rhymes to combat his allegedly divine control over the valley, mountain, and forest. Because he condescends to her, he tries manipulating Verity to gain even more control, underestimating his opponent. The two face off numerous times throughout the novel—each battle testing Verity’s strength and integrity and proving Earl’s unredeemable wickedness. Earl is a static character who does not change by the novel’s end; instead, he is defeated by Verity and her friends.

Tacita Tarry is another of the novel’s primary characters and a Foxfire resident. Verity first hears about Tacita when her mother, Theresa Tarry, comes into Green’s General Goods, seeking Verity’s help. Theresa has heard that Verity is in town fixing things for the residents by using her magic. She initially proposes that Verity mend Tacita’s childhood doll but then tasks her with venturing into the mountain to recover Tacita, who disappeared there a few weeks before. Verity is shocked to discover that no one in town has so much as mentioned Tacita’s existence or disappearance since her arrival, and worse, no one has gone in search of her. This mystery surrounding Tacita intensifies the stakes of Verity’s stay in Foxfire and inspires her adventure beyond the town and her initial confrontations with Earl.

Tacita is a dynamic, round character. She is an only daughter, who has lived alone with her mother ever since her father and brother disappeared to the mountain years prior. Her father is dead, but Tacita still sometimes holds out hope that her brother might have gotten beyond the mountain and started a new life for himself elsewhere. Tacita, too, has always dreamed of escaping her small, secluded Appalachian town and creating a new path for herself, contrasting with the attitudes of most of the townspeople. Despite her lifelong dream of making something of herself, Tacita has had no opportunity to do so. She (like everyone else in Foxfire) is physically stuck. She cannot leave the village for fear of being killed by Earl, who has destroyed the only bridge out of the valley. In addition, Tacita is circumstantially trapped: Her mother is desperate for her to marry Del Miller, the local dairy farmers’ son. Del has had a crush on Tacita since they were children, but while Tacita appreciates Del as a person, she has no interest in him romantically. She plays along with the relationship for her mother’s sake; Theresa is convinced that this union will help their family’s circumstances as the women have struggled to make ends meet on their own. Tacita decides to take fate into her own hands when she runs away from Foxfire and disappears into the forests.

Tacita is determined, strong-willed, and feisty. Because she knows who she is and what she wants, she is willing to take risks to seek a better life for herself, and she offers a model for Verity of how to believe in and understand oneself. When she goes to the mountain, she meets Earl at the mine and tells him that her heart’s desire is to go somewhere where she might disappear, somewhere where she might never be found. In exchange for her anatomical heart, Earl banishes her to a chimney in a dilapidated mountain house. Verity is the one who rescues her. Even after all she has suffered at Earl’s manipulative hand, Tacita is reluctant to return home. Her lack of interest in going back to Foxfire conveys how stifling she finds the town and how desperate she is for freedom and autonomy over her own life.

Tacita and Verity develop a relationship over the course of the novel, and part of Tacita’s role in the novel is to teach Verity how to believe in herself. At first, their connection is platonic; they invest in one another’s lives and support one another’s causes. Verity tries to help Tacita feel safe and free at once, while Tacita does everything she can to aid Verity’s fight against Earl. Over time, they discover that they have more points of connection, and they become more intimate as the narrative progresses. Eventually, they decide to make a life together after Verity completes her mission in Foxfire, illustrating how Tacita’s need for escape might have been more about a search for independence than a change in location. Tacita’s tenacity inspires Verity, too. She urges Verity to see her self-worth—with or without her magical powers—and to start making decisions according to what she needs and wants, instead of according to others’ expectations of her.