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.