God Bless the Child: Analysis of Major Characters
"God Bless the Child" explores the complex lives of its major characters, each shaped by their circumstances and relationships. Central to the narrative is Rosalie "Rosie" Fleming, a young Black woman yearning for love and an escape from her challenging upbringing. Abandoned by her father, Rosie struggles with feelings of inadequacy and seeks solace from her grandmother, Lourinda Baxter Huggs, whose idealized view of white society further complicates Rosie's self-perception. Lourinda, a devoted servant to her white employers, holds onto a romanticized vision of the South that influences Rosie’s aspirations. Rosie's mother, Queenie Fleming, embodies the harsh realities of life for Black women, oscillating between tough love and frustration as she grapples with her own failures. This dynamic creates a strained relationship with Rosie, contributing to her struggles with identity. Additionally, Rosie’s childhood friend, Dolores "Dolly" Diaz, provides a contrasting perspective, as Dolly envies Rosie’s life despite her own internal conflicts. Together, these characters illustrate the intricate interplay of race, family, and self-identity within their respective journeys, inviting readers to reflect on the broader societal implications of their experiences.
God Bless the Child: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Kristin Hunter
First published: 1964
Genre: Novel
Locale: An unspecified northern city
Plot: Social realism
Time: The 1950's and 1960's
Rosalie (Rosie) Fleming, a young black woman driven by her need for love and escape from her ghetto beginnings. During her childhood, the father she adores abandons the family, leaving Rosie with her mother, whom she cannot fully love because she partially blames her for the father's desertion. Rosie turns to her grandmother for solace and love, and her needs go unmet. Instead, Rosie's sense of inadequacy increases; she cannot match her grandmother's romanticized vision of white people, whom the grandmother idolizes, mimics, and serves as a live-in domestic. At an early age, Rosie learns to despise herself and her roach-infested home, which cannot compare to the immaculate, fairy-tale image presented in her grandmother's stories about whites. Once she is old enough, Rosie leaves school and doggedly trudges toward her warped dream. After she is physically worn and wasted, Rosie finally questions all that she has worked for and believed.
Lourinda Baxter Huggs, Rosie's grandmother. She is a devoted servant and admirer of her white employers. Of Southern origins and Creole heritage, Lourinda reveres the chivalric idea of a noble South with benevolent white masters and happy black servants who know and relish their place. After decades of service to a white family, Lourinda considers her employers more her family than she does her own daughter and granddaughter, who cannot possibly attain the gentility Lourinda values above all else. She imparts her twisted love to Rosie, and soon her poisonous dreams capture and consume Rosie's imagination.
Queenie Fleming, Rosie's weary, alcoholic mother. Queenie was once pretty, but her exuberance and vitality have vanished. Unable to rise above racial and sexual conditions, Queenie, a beautician, dreams of finding a good man. Instead, she settles for a hustler who cons her for money. Queenie is able to see through her mother's pretension but is unable to produce more than sporadic outbursts of impotent rage against her mother's ludicrous values. Because Queenie knows how difficult life is for a black female, especially an unattractive one like Rosie, she treats her daughter roughly to make her tough and able to survive. She succeeds, but she alienates Rosie. Queenie is finally presented with an opportunity to help and possibly reclaim her daughter. The ensuing failure is too much for the already ailing Queenie, who dies.
Dolores (Dolly) Diaz, Rosie's friend since childhood. Dolly envies Rosie's impoverished life, which appears glamorous and exciting. Whereas Rosie is common, strong, and independent, Dolly is prim, repressed, and weak. They are also opposites in appearance. Rosie is skinny and dark, with coarse, short hair; Dolly, on the other hand, has light skin and long, “good” hair. Dolly's preoccupation with her own internal conflicts make her unable to save Rosie. In time, she comes to see the folly of Rosie's life and her own.