Prologue- Chapter 3: Settings

In these chapters, we are introduced to the troubled Wingo family.  Tom, the narrator, tells us cynically about his challenging childhood, decaying marriage, and most importantly, his suicidal sister Savannah. The prologue addresses the importance of Tom's South Carolinian identity and his past.  In chapter 1, Tom discovers that Savannah has attempted suicide for the second or third time, and that he must travel to New York to see her.  Tom does not like New York one bit, but Savannah seems to be happier there than in South Carolina.  Chapter 2 reveals the details of Tom's first visit to New York with his brother Luke to see Savannah.  Extreme contrasts are made between southern, rural South Carolina and urban New York. We (the readers) also realize just how deranged Savannah is in the mind.  In chapter 3, Tom, back in the present, meets Dr. Lowenstein, Savannah's psychiatrist.  She tells him how serious Savannah's condition is and asks to know more about Savannah's past. 


Colleton, South Carolina is characterized by sterotypical Southern culture and the astounding beauty of nature.  The people have similar southern roots, know each other, and are courteous.  In New York City, on the other hand, the cold concrete buildings and streets parallel the aloofness of the people.  Having been raised in the South, Tom is uncomfortable in the impersonal city of New York.  Conroy's diction indicates Tom's disdain for the city, incorporating words like "enervating", "hideous", "cheerless", "damaged", and "s***hole" when describing New York.  Tom says:

"It takes too much energy and endurance to record the infinite number of ways the city offends me.  Were I to list them all, I would fill up a book the size of the Manhattan yellow pages, and that would merely be the prologue (32)."

Unlike Tom, Savannah is fascinated with the fierceness and artistry of the city.

"Even the muggers, drug addicts, winos, and bag ladies...are a major part of the city's ineffable charm for her.  It is these damaged birds of paradise, burnt out and sneaking past the mean alleys, that define the city's most extreme limits for her.  She finds beauty in these extremities (33)."

Tom and Luke think that no one can find privacy in New York because there are so many people.  Savannah believes that precisely for that reason, one can have privacy.  She explains that in such a big city, nobody knows you personally, so you can get by unnoticed.
Savannah also loves New York because it is the opposite of Colleton.  She had a difficult childhood and needed to escape from the memory of it.  She tells Luke:

"'That's why I came here to New York, to escape everything in my past.  I hated every single thing about my childhood.  I love New York because I'm not reminded of Colleton at all.  Nothing that I see here, absolutely nothing, reminds me of my childhood.' (44)"

We think that the details of Savannah's feminist followers and the bleeding angels in her vision suggest that she was raped, possibly by her father.  We are eager for more information about Savannah's past to be revealed so that we can see if our predictions are correct.
We noticed in these chapters that Tom and Savannah are closely connected, but that the setting divides them.  Their different opinions of Colleton and New York City reflect the different ways they deal with their childhood.  Tom says that his job is to forget his past, so he loves South Carolina because he doesn't acknowledge what happened there.  He says that it is Savannah's job to remember her past in detail and try to escape from it, so she moves away from the locus of her suffering.  As the novel progresses, it will become Tom's job to remember everything so that he can solve the mystery of Savannah's madness and save not only Savannah, but himself as well.

Chapter 4: Rhetoric Study

"There are no verdicts to childhood, only consequences, and the bright freight of memory.  I speak now of the sun-struck, deeply lived-in days of my past.  I am more fabulist than historian, but I will try to give you the insoluble, unedited terror of youth.  I betray the integrity of my family’s history by turning everything, even sadness, into romance.  There is no romance in this story; there is only the story.

Let us begin with a single fact: The island dogs are calling to each other.

It is night.  My grandfather listens to them and does not like the sound.  In that melody of hounds all the elegiac loneliness of my part of the world is contained.  The island dogs are afraid.  It is October 4, 1944, ten o’clock in the evening.  The tide is rising and will not be full until 1:49 the next morning. 

My sister is born in the white house by the river.  My mother is not due for a month, but that is of small import now.  Sarah Jenkins, eighty-five, black, and a midwife for sixty years, is bent over my mother as Savannah is born.  Dr. Bannister, Colleton’s only doctor, is dying in Charleston at this very moment. 

Sarah Jenkins is tending to Savannah when she notices my head making its unexpected appearance.  I came as a surprise, an afterthought.

There is a hurricane moving toward Melrose Island.  My grandfather is strengthening the windows with masking tape.  He goes over and stares down into the cradle at Luke, who is sleeping.  He listens again to the medley of dogs but he can barely hear them now because of the wind.  The power went out over an hour before and I am delivered into the world by candlelight.

Sarah Jenkins cleans us thoroughly and attends to our mother.  It has been a messy, difficult birth and she fears there might be complications (75-76)."

Chapter 4 is the first of a series of flashbacks that help explain the Wingos’ past and Savannah’s insanity.  In this excerpt, Tom reveals some important details about his and Savannah’s birth.  Conroy’s abstract diction, the details of the setting, and the present-tense narration are important rhetorical techniques that strengthen the meaning of the passage.

This passage only covers the hours surrounding Tom and Savannah’s birth, but it represents patterns that continue throughout their lives.  The abstract language, including phrases like “elegiac loneliness” and “insoluble, unedited terror” helps create an ominous, oppressing mood, while the tangible descriptions of the setting and the background events show the hardship more directly.

When Savannah and Tom are born, a hurricane is heading for Melrose Island.  Their grandfather prepares by putting masking tape over the window panes, showing us that the storm is going to be serious and threatening.  The island dogs are howling, adding to the eeriness and foreboding of the occasion.  The power goes out, leaving everyone in a primitive, organic situation and demonstrating that they are against nature in their survival attempts, without modern conveniences to aid them.  Most importantly, they are alone.  It is implied that there is nobody else on the island, at least not anybody near them.  The town doctor is not able to assist with the birth because he is dying miles away.  It is a difficult birth, and the midwife “fears there might be complications.”

There is a parallel between the "messy, difficult birth" and Tom and Savannah's childhood.  The potential of complications shows that just because they got through the birth doesn't mean they are free from problems.  Similarly, enduring their childhood and moving on into adulthood does not free them from emotional problems.

Interestingly, Tom narrates this passage in present tense, as though he is observing the scene from the outside instead of being involved in it.  His narration shows detachment from his life.  Tom is very emotional, but he chooses to ignore the emotion of his childhood experiences.  As an adult, he looks back on them as an outsider because he does not want to remember the pain of being involved in them.

Chapter 5: Callanwolde

In Chapter 5, Henry goes to fight in the Korean War, so Lila and her children go to Atlanta to stay with Henry’s parents.  Before Henry leaves, the family has a picnic on Stone Mountain, and we see an example of Henry abusing them.  Everyone is happy for him to leave, and they feel free when they’re in Atlanta.  However, their freedom is threatened when a mysterious and scary man, who they call Callanwolde, starts coming to their house.

We found the story of Callanwolde absolutely terrifying.  Both the description of Callanwolde and the description of the family’s fear contributed to the horror.  Callanwolde’s behavior is disgusting and disturbing, and Conroy presents it straightforwardly, without any fluff.  The writing in this section is powerful, and although we cannot relate to the Wingos’ situation, we can empathize with the family for their fear.

The Callanwolde occurrence has a powerful effect on the children.  Before the strange man appears, “Callanwolde” has a completely different meaning.  It refers to the forest where the children play and symbolizes magical, fantastic adventures.  However, after the man becomes a chronic problem, the name “Callanwolde” comes to refer to him.  Its pleasant meaning is corrupted, and the children use it to label all bad or evil situations.

            “The word Callanwolde changed meaning for us, and, following Savannah’s example, we began to refer to the man as Callanwolde... When Sister Immaculata described the terrors of hell in her sweet voice, she was explaining the boundaries and perimeters of Callanwolde to me and Savannah...  It was a specific person, a specific place, and a general condition of a world suddenly fearful and a fate uncontrollable.” (132)

One of the major problems that Tom and his siblings have throughout their childhood is that things like the meaning of “Callanwolde” change drastically for them.  Before the Callanwolde occurrence, they pray for their father to die in Korea, but afterwards, they anxiously await his return, as he is the only one who can save them.  We have noticed multiple examples of things changing rapidly for them and believe that that has contributed to their confusion and suffering.

Callanwolde is an extreme example of the evil side of men.  His barbaric behavior and physicality contribute to the power of his character as a symbol in the novel.  He rarely speaks when he comes to the house; the only things he ever says are terse threats like “I’ll be back” and “I want you.”  It is as though he does not have a mind but only embodies creepiness and evil.  His appearance, particularly the fact that he is nearly seven feet tall, demonstrates his masculinity.  His advances towards Lila and his exposed genitals show his lack of civility and his evil sexual power.

Each family member’s reaction to Callanwolde is important to his/her characterization.

Luke reacts physically to Callanwolde and tries to fight him off, ignoring the fact that he is a seven-year-old boy against a seven-foot-tall man.  He always has the most active response to Callanwolde’s visits.  He seems to assume the role of man of the house when his mother and siblings are threatened.

Lila is the target of Callanwolde’s attention, although the man is a threat to the entire family.  Lila is scared for herself as well as for her children.  She sleeps during the day and walks through the house checking the locks at night.  Her response demonstrates her powerlessness around men but also shows her concern for her children.  The Callanwolde case also reveals more about her relationship with Henry: She is intimidated by her husband and specifically asks the children not to tell him about Callanwolde because she fears he will judge her.  Henry had told her many time that “no woman was raped who had not asked for it.” (137)

Savannah clearly has a problem with men, and this incident is the first manifestation of that.  Her father has beaten her before, but his event is the first time that a threat has come from outside of her family or has been sexual in nature.  Her problems with her father were discipline-based, but the Callanwolde incident shows the evil power of a man whose goal seems to be nothing but enjoyment.  Her reaction to Callanwolde indicates that her problem with men is sexually based.

Tom has the most emotional response to Callanwolde.  He is more terrified than any of the others—he is literally paralyzed with fear and doesn’t speak for days after Callanwolde comes for the second time.  Like Savannah, Tom has never before experienced any type of attack from a man, and this event is the first time he realizes the maliciousness of those of his own gender.  As an adult, he becomes particularly passionate about acknowledging true male identity.

Chapters 6-7: Character Study

In chapter 6, we first see Tom and Dr. Lowenstein talking over dinner where Tom explains his current perception of his mother.  We also realize that Dr. Lowenstein’s family relationships are more complicated and broken than we might have thought.  After stating that his grandmother is presently alone in a nursing home, Tom goes on to explain that after her husband died, she travelled the world, examining different cultures.  She eventually comes back to Colleton to live with Tom’s grandfather, whom she had been separated from since the Depression.  Tom goes into further characterization of the two of them and their kindness and wonders how his father could have come from them.  In chapter 7, we see even more about Dr. Lowenstein’s home life and her relationship with her son Bernard.  Then we learn about Lila’s miscarriages and how that reflects on the family’s characterization.  Then Tom finds Savannah with Rose Aster, their dead baby sister, in her bed.  But the next day Tom realizes that Savannah cannot remember lots of traumatic things from their childhood, the previous night included. This is the first time that Savannah is presented as crazy.  We also see more about Tom’s “nervous breakdown” and Dr. Lowenstein’s son Bernard.


Henry Wingo abuses his family.  This fact is more apparent than anything else about him.  He is the opposite of his parents Amos and Tolitha Wingo possibly because his parents were too busy with their own lives to bother raising their son.  Tom seems to believe this.  He says, “His childhood had been a sanctioned debacle of neglect, and my grandparents were the pale, unindictable executers of my father’s violations against his own children (156).”

Another possibility to consider is that Henry, like his son Tom and many others, did not want to resemble his parents and, unlike Tom, succeeded. 

We don’t know very much about Henry besides the fact that he was violent with his family.  Although he must have possessed other qualities, they don’t seem to have made any kind of an impact because they were overshadowed by his brutality.  Tom suggests, “If Henry Wingo had not been a violent man, I think he would have made a splendid father (5).”


Lila Wingo is first presented as a beautiful, imaginative, loving woman, but as the story progresses, we see a different side to her that is much fiercer and more terrible than the first.  When Tom becomes aware of this change in his perception of her, he says, “Before, I had thought of her as only beautiful and unapproachable, but now I became aware of something dissatisfied, even cunning, behind the prettiest blue eyes I would ever see (180-181).”

One of the things that contributed to her unhappiness was having four miscarriages after her three children were born.  Lila’s miscarriages deeply disturbed her, but her love for her living children starts to become questionable.  She seems very unsatisfied with the life she chose, which contributes to her discontentedness around her family.  She seems to see them as physical reminders of her non-existent wealth and low social status.   In the present, Tom is very aware of her impurity.  At this point, it is unclear if there was a specific event that caused this mindset in Tom or if it was merely a realization that grew larger and more serious over time.


Luke Wingo is probably the least mentioned family member.  From the information that Tom does give us, Luke seems to be the strongest whether because he doesn’t let everything affect him the same way it affects everyone else or because he is simple in thought and emotion compared to the rest of the family.  He acts as the protector when Henry is either hurting them or is not around to protect them.  Although we don’t know much about Luke yet, he must be important later because while talking to Dr. Lowenstein, Tom says,“’None of us suspected it when we were growing up, but Luke was the one living the essential life, the only one that mattered (144).’”

Perhaps it was his ability to get past the experiences that were so damaging to his siblings that allowed him to live “the essential life.”  Perhaps he led the only life that mattered because he was the only one who was able to lead a normal life.  Tom and Savannah were too altered by their childhood to move past it.  Luke's life seemed less significant than Tom and Savannah's because he was not as intelligent as they were, but it might have been that very quality that saved him.


Savannah Wingo is shown as a fighter in her childhood.  She seemed to be the twin that could handle the stress of living in the Wingo family, yet in the present she is the one unable to cope with her childhood.  We learn, however, that she cannot remember many of the traumatic things that had happened to them.  As a result, she seemed to live more in her mind than in reality.  Tom says that “even then, her interior life was far more important to her than her external one (184).”

Perhaps this was a defense mechanism that allowed her to deal with her past by forgetting it, but it seems that eventually, it might have turned on her.  By living mostly in her mind, things might have formed there from which she can never escape.  She may have gone crazy not because of her inability to cope with her childhood, but because of her way of handling it.


Tom Wingo is the most emotional of all of the characters.  It seems that he is the sibling who is most affected by his childhood experiences.  Although Savannah seems to be more deeply affected because of her insanity, Tom is really the one who is unable to let go of his childhood enough to live in the present. 

Tom’s characterization is based on the rest of the characters and his attitude towards them.  For instance, he is frightened by his father’s violence, and seemed to be always waiting for him to strike.  This is displayed when Tom says, “I lived out my childhood thinking my father would one day kill me (157).”

Tom also seems to be obsessed with gender.  There are many instances, such as Callanwolde, that seem to make him ashamed of his own gender.  But beyond that, Tom appears to have trouble coming to terms with the way all people are.  While talking to Dr. Lowenstein, he professes that there are problems with each gender and that his problems with both relate back to his childhood and his parents. 

“’Is there a part of you that hates women, Tom?’[Dr. Lowenstein] asked, leaning toward me. ‘Really hates them?’

‘Yes,’ I answered, matching the dark intensity of her stare.

‘Do you have any idea why you hate women?’ she asked, again the unruffled professional, dauntless in her role.

‘Yes, I know exactly why I hate women.  I was raised by a woman.  Now ask me the next question.  The next logical question.’

‘I’m afraid I don’t understand.’

‘Ask me if I hate men, New York feminist doctor,’ I said. ‘Ask me if I hate f**king men.’

‘Do you hate men?’ she asked.

‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘I hate men because I was raised by a man (165-166).’”

Dr. Susan Lowenstein seems at first to be well put-together and reasonably happy due to her high-paying job, but we quickly come to realize that she is not content in her marriage.  She seems to be hurt by her husband’s disinterest, and this has caused her self-confidence to go rocketing downward.  This is displayed by a piece of dialogue from her and Tom.

“‘… I haven’t felt attractive in a very long time, Lowenstein.’

Again, there was a softening, and I watched her mouth relax as she said, ‘Neither have I, Tom (144).’”

She is also confused by her son and his unhappiness.  She doesn’t have the solutions to her own life the way she does for everyone else.  She seems to represent the idea that everyone has problems.  No one, not even the people who had a perfect childhood, can be perfect people or live in a perfect world.  In the same way that we see Tom starting to recover from his disturbing childhood, Dr. Lowenstein is beginning to recover from her damaging marriage. We think that as the novel progresses, we will also see her opening up to both Tom and her son.

Chapters 8-14: A Multifaceted Hodgepodge of a Personal Response

In Chapter 8, Tolitha takes the children to shop for a coffin with her.  At the funeral parlor, she lies down in a coffin and tricks Ruby Blankenship into thinking she is dead, then raises up from the coffin, climbs out, and runs away with the children, leaving Ruby in hysterics.  In Chapter 14, Amos carries out his Good Friday tradition of imitating Jesus’ walk to Calvary by dressing in a robe and sandals and carrying a cross through the streets of Colleton.

Chapter 8 shows Tolitha’s awareness of her mortality but also her youthful spirit.  It seems that she is trying to convince herself that she is old and about to die.  She argues that even though she seems healthy for her age, she knows she is going to suffer heart failure soon because a gypsy told her so.  However, she is very playful and seems young at heart.  Her plot to trick Ruby Blankenship and her fit of hysterical laughter that followed aren’t typical behavior of a frail old lady.  The question is: Does Tolitha want to die?  It wouldn’t seem natural for her to die anytime soon, but she is determined for it happen.  We hope that as we continue reading, Conroy will give us more information about Tolitha and her opinion of death.

Amos and Tolitha are complete opposites, and it’s not clear why they married each other.  Amos is a quiet, religious man who makes his living selling Bibles.  Tolitha is a wild, adventurous quasi-alcoholic who travels the world and has many husbands without telling Amos.  However, it seems that they love each other despite not understanding each other’s way of life.  They are also very loving, and it’s not clear why Henry turned out the way he did when his parents were so kind (see Character Study).

In Chapter 9, Tom beats up Todd Newbury for saying bad things about the Wingo family.  This chapter establishes the hatred between the Newburys and the Wingos.  In Chapter 11, Lila is determined to become a member of the Colleton League and works on creating a recipe to submit to their cookbook.  When the Colleton League not only rejects her recipe but then treats the Wingos in a way that embarrasses Lila, the children wait until the Newburys go to Barbados and then leave a dead loggerhead turtle to rot in their house.

Lila is very concerned with keeping up appearances.  She is embarrassed that her family is poor, and she wants to look high-class.  She hates the Newburys, but she listens to Isabel Newbury and stops wearing flowers in her hair, tries to join the Colleton League with Isabel, and ends up marrying Reese Newbury in order to raise her social standing.  Her social status matters to her more than most things, so she puts all of her time into trying to improve it and makes some unwise decisions along the way.

These chapters also show how loving and close-knit the family can be, with the exception of Henry.  As an adult, Tom hates his mother for what she has done, including some terrible things he hasn’t revealed to us yet, but as a child, he is very supportive of his mother and loves her deeply.  Every time Lila is embarrassed or insulted by the Newburys or the Colleton League, her children come to her defense and encourage her.  They are incredibly loving and supportive of their mother in these chapters, which shows that whatever she did to make them hate her must have been really serious.

In Chapter 10, Tom meets Bernard, Dr. Lowenstein’s son, and begins teaching him to play football.  In Chapter 12, Tom talks to Dr. Lowenstein about Bernard and his training.

Conroy makes a lot of statements about parenting and the parents’ influence on their children in this book, mainly because it is based on his own childhood experiences.  Dr. Lowenstein, her husband, and Bernard are an interesting example of parent-child relationships and long-term effects of bad parenting.  Dr. Lowenstein had explained earlier that she never got too involved in Bernard’s life because she was afraid she would mess him up.  Tom describes Bernard as “neglected” as says that Bernard’s childhood has made him bitter and uncommunicative.  Tom feels some disrespect towards Dr. Lowenstein and her husband because of the way have raised Bernard.

Tom seems determined to improve Dr. Lowenstein’s relationship with her son.  He scolds her for not showing any interest in football.  He then starts teaching her the basics of football so that she can understand Bernard’s interest and follow the games he plays.  It is interesting that Tom is trying so hard to help her, as she is a psychiatrist, and even though Tom isn’t her patient, it would make more sense for her to help him.  But even though Tom's problems seem more horrific, Dr. Lowenstein's are no less legitimate.  Tom and Dr. Lowenstein are able to help each other because they each represent one side of the issue:  Tom understands what it's like to have bad parents, and Dr. Lowenstein understands how difficult parenting is.  Their relationship strengthens the theme that everybody has problems, even those who seem to lead perfect lives.

In Chapter 13, we learn about Henry’s stupid attempts at making money.  The biggest one is purchasing a gas station and a tiger to go with it.  After six months, the gas station closes.  The family has lost a lot of money, including the children’s college funds, and is left with only a vicious tiger.

We’re not really sure what the tiger represents, but we know it has some significance because Savannah talked about tigers in her crazy speech after she woke up from her coma.  She mentioned “the tiger man,” and we think that foreshadows that something significant is going to happen with the tiger.

This chapter is also important to Luke's characterization.  In the way he deals with the tiger, he is presented as more passionate than we have seen him before.  Before reading this chapter, we saw Luke as physical and unintelligent, but the tiger provides him with a setting to express his emotions more deeply.