Free Fall: Analysis of Major Characters
"Free Fall: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the intricate lives of key figures in the narrative, primarily focusing on Sammy Mountjoy, the protagonist and narrator. Sammy, a talented artist reflecting on his moral and spiritual journey, grapples with his past, delineating his life into a time before and after his high school graduation, which he perceives as a transition into a form of bondage. His experiences in a prisoner-of-war camp serve as a crucial turning point, leading him to confront his self-centeredness and recognize the larger implications of his actions on others, particularly Beatrice Ifor. Beatrice, a pious yet passive character, finds herself deeply affected by Sammy’s abandonment, which contributes to her descent into insanity. Other pivotal characters include Rowena Pringle, a strict teacher whose repressed desires manifest in her antagonism towards Sammy; Nick Shales, an inspiring science teacher who embodies socialist ideals; and Father Watts-Watt, a conflicted vicar struggling with his own moral failures. Additionally, Dr. Halde, a university professor with a morally ambiguous stance, challenges Sammy's understanding of himself. Collectively, these characters illuminate themes of guilt, responsibility, and the complexities of human relationships in the backdrop of personal and societal struggles.
Free Fall: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: William Golding
First published: 1959
Genre: Novel
Locale: Southeastern England
Plot: Bildungsroman
Time: 1917-c. 1950
Sammy Mountjoy, the narrator and protagonist, a well-known artist who has risen from abject poverty through his talents. In the novel, he is not concerned about his rise to fame, instead recounting his moral and spiritual development. He finds such development not in the gradually unfolding events of his life but in certain specific moments, recounted as memories. The most significant of such moments is when he lost his innocence and thus the freedom of choice; further, he took on guilt and experienced the bondage of the will. He feels his life is therefore divided into a before and an after. The before consists of his school life. The after begins at his high school graduation, which therefore becomes a graduation into slavery, a slavery that lasts up to his experience of despair in a cell of a prisoner-of-war camp. He owns this part of his life and feels guilt for it, even though he recognizes that he could have lived no other way. This prison experience has symbolically broken the prison of his own self-centeredness, so he can perceive the glory of life. This is where he is living as he writes the book. He realizes that others, like Beatrice, are trapped as a result of his past, and he must continue to bear responsibility.
Beatrice Ifor, the daughter of respectable shopkeepers. She attends Sammy's high (grammar) school and then trains to be a teacher near Sammy's art college in London. Even though she is pious and conformist, she is seduced by Sammy, who sees her as mysterious, nunlike, and secret. After trying to relate to her, he is appalled by her passivity, the role she adopts as victim, and her doglike devotion. Sammy's desertion of her is probably the main cause of her insanity.
Rowena Pringle, a teacher at the high school, specializing in history and religious education. She is a complex character, pious and fastidious, maintaining discipline through fear and emotional manipulation. She delivers spellbinding accounts of Bible stories. She has an inveterate hostility to Sammy, based, it is suggested, on her own repressed sexuality—she wants to marry the vicar. She accuses Sammy of dirty-mindedness to the headmaster.
Nick Shales, a brilliant and popular science teacher at the high school. He respects his students and relates closely to them. He, too, has risen from poverty and has become a socialist idealist. He believes in a rational, ordered world, and his exemplary life wins Sammy over both to his politics and to his atheism.
Ma, a fat, shapeless earthy woman at the bottom of the social pile. She has occasional work, frequents the pub, and makes up all sorts of stories as to the identity of Sammy's father.
Father Watts-Watt, a high church Anglican vicar, paranoid and battling to suppress his pedophilia and sexual fantasies. He is unable to relate to anyone, including Sammy, whose guardian he becomes on the death of Sammy's mother.
Dr. Halde, a university professor of psychology. He has been enrolled in the Gestapo to interrogate prisoners. He appears rational and urbane, his morality relativistic—the tempter figure. His methods do not win the approval of the army officers running the camp, but they open Sammy's eyes to his own nature.