Delta Wedding: Analysis of Major Characters
"Delta Wedding: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the intricate dynamics of the Fairchild family in the context of a wedding. Central to the narrative is Laura McRaven, a young girl visiting her family, the Fairchilds, to attend her cousin Dabney's wedding. Laura grapples with feelings of belonging as she yearns to be included in the wedding party and faces the bittersweet reality of returning to her father afterward. Dabney Fairchild, the bride, experiences ambivalence as she navigates her love for her fiancé, Troy Flavin, who comes from a less prestigious background than her family. The story also delves into the relationships among the family members, highlighting Battle Fairchild, the patriarch, whose reserved nature masks deep familial loyalty, and Ellen Fairchild, Dabney's mother, who privately expresses her frustrations within the family structure. George Fairchild, Battle's brother, adds depth as a character caught between familial love and personal strife, especially regarding his resentful wife, Robbie. Through the lens of the wedding, the narrative captures themes of family loyalty, social class, and the complexities of individual desires against collective expectations.
Delta Wedding: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Eudora Welty
First published: 1946
Genre: Novel
Locale: Mississippi
Plot: Regional
Time: Early 1920's
Laura McRaven, a cousin to the Fairchilds, a remarkable and close-knit Delta family. At nine, Laura makes her first journey alone. She is going to the Delta to visit her dead mother's people; her cousin Dabney is being married. Laura's chief regret is that she is not to be in the wedding party, but at the last minute, when one of the children falls sick, this wish is granted. After the wedding, Laura's aunt asks her to live with them. Being wanted by the Fairchilds seems wonderful beyond belief, but Laura knows that she must go back to her father.
Dabney Fairchild, Laura's cousin, a bride-to-be. Dabney is marrying the plantation manager, whose social position is inferior. Dabney, before her marriage, feels ambivalent—loving her fiancé, but at the same time afraid of being at all outside her family. After the honeymoon, the couple returns to live at Marmion, an estate owned by the family. Everything now seems right to Dabney.
Battle Fairchild, her father, the owner of Shellmound plantation. The Fairchilds seldom talk as a family but always act as one. Characteristically, Battle is reluctant to let Dabney go, but he cannot even say that he will miss her.
Ellen Fairchild, Dabney's mother. Sharing the Fairchild reticence, which is in fact family loyalty, she expresses only to her husband her anger against her brother-in-law's wife Robbie, who is making George unhappy.
George Fairchild, Battle's brother, the best loved of all. He married beneath him, and his wife, resentful of George's family—especially after George risked his life to save a feeble-minded cousin—has deserted him. Yet she comes to the Fairchild place, and at last George makes her see his love for her.
Robbie Fairchild, George's wife. She believes that the Fairchilds love one another because in doing so they are really loving themselves. Defeated by the family feeling, she wants George to show that he loves her above them.
Shelley Fairchild, the eldest Fairchild daughter. The family disapproves of her plan to become a nun but does not try to get her to change her mind. Shelley, understanding the family best, knows that George is the best loved because he alone seems to love them all as individuals, not collectively.
Troy Flavin, the manager of Shellmound plantation and Dabney's husband-to-be. His mother sends some beautiful handmade quilts from her mountain shack. Troy is proud, but the Fairchilds are even more ashamed of his background, though unwillingly.