Jubilee: Analysis of Major Characters
"Jubilee: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the lives of several key figures in the context of the American Civil War and its aftermath, primarily focusing on Elvira (Vyry) Dutton, a woman of mixed heritage born into slavery on a Georgia plantation. The narrative highlights Vyry's resilience as she faces numerous hardships, including familial loss, abuse, and the challenges of post-war life. Despite her struggles, she embodies compassion and strength, ultimately finding stability through her second marriage to Innis Brown, a kind-hearted but uneducated former field hand.
Randall Ware, a free black man and blacksmith, represents the complexities of freedom and racial tensions during this time, as he faces persecution from the Ku Klux Klan after achieving political success. The character of John Morris Dutton, Vyry's white father, provides insight into the conflicting attitudes of plantation owners, revealing a man of ambition who fails to acknowledge his responsibilities to his children. His wife, Salina Dutton, exhibits cruelty tempered by her own wartime courage, while their children, Lillian and Johnny, reflect the varying impacts of their upbringing and the era's societal norms. Overall, the character analysis offers a nuanced view of personal and cultural identities shaped by historical circumstances.
Jubilee: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Margaret Walker
First published: 1966
Genre: Novel
Locale: Georgia and Alabama
Plot: Historical realism
Time: The 1840's to 1870
Elvira (Vyry) Dutton, the protagonist, based on the author's great-grandmother, a slave on a Georgia plantation who is freed at the time of the Civil War. At the age of two, she loses her mother in childbirth. The daughter of the white plantation owner, Vyry is pale-skinned, with sandy hair and gray-blue eyes. Mistreated and beaten by her father's white wife, she develops great strength of character while retaining her capacity for compassion and for forgiveness. When her free husband is forced to leave Georgia without her and their two children, she tries to remain true to him, but at the end of the war, she marries Innis Brown. As they move westward in search of a home, she bravely endures a flood, sickness, poverty, and persecution. It is her kindness toward a pregnant white girl that brings her the support of the Greenville, Alabama, community, and a secure, permanent home for her family.
Randall Ware, a free black man, a blacksmith. A young, muscular man with coal-black skin, Ware is proud of his free birth. Having inherited money from his white guardian, he has bought property in Georgia. When he is elected to the legislature after the Civil War, he is threatened by the Ku Klux Klan and forced to sell his property and leave. When he finds Vyry in Greenville, he begs her to return to him but she decides to stay with Innis.
Innis Brown, Vyry's second husband. A former field hand, Innis is uneducated but hardworking and kindhearted. A tall man with warm brown skin and brown hair, he first befriends Vyry's two children and later saves her from marauders. After they marry, he disagrees with her only about the value of education but eventually is won over by her arguments in favor of it.
John Morris Dutton, Vyry's white father, the owner of a Georgia plantation. He is in his thirties when Vyry is born, a decent and compassionate person but politically ambitious. He leaves the running of the plantation to his spiteful wife and to a brutal overseer. Throughout his life, he refuses to admit any responsibility for his mulatto children. He does not allow Randall Ware to buy Vyry and lies to Vyry about freeing her. After a carriage accident, he refuses to have his injured leg amputated and dies as a result.
Salina“BigMissy”Dutton, the wife of John Morris Dutton. A big-boned but lovely, dark-haired Savannah belle when she marries him, she soon makes it clear that she has no interest in sex except for necessary procreation. After producing one son and one daughter, she ceases to function as a wife, except on a social level. Her dislike of black people is intensified by her husband's frequent intimacies with slaves, and in his absence, she permits excessive cruelty toward them, herself torturing Vyry, who resembles her father. Salina is courageous in wartime, investing all of her funds in the Confederacy, even though she knows that it is failing. She dies of a stroke in 1864.
Lillian Dutton, the daughter of Salina and John. Similar in appearance to her father and to Vyry, she is sweet-tempered and gentle. In childhood, she is Vyry's playmate and mistress. Later, she marries the pacifist Kevin MacDougall, who is killed in a war that he thought senseless. After being attacked and injured by Yankees, she loses her mind and spends her later years, with her children, at the home of her aunt in Georgiana, Alabama.
Johnny Dutton, the son of Salina and John. A dark-haired, proud, and handsome man, he resembles his mother in looks and in attitude; also like her, he can be very cruel. After being graduated from West Point, he becomes an officer in the Confederate Army, is wounded in battle, and is then brought home by his black manservant. Although he falls in love, he dies suddenly before the relationship can progress to marriage.
Ed Grimes, the overseer on the Dutton estate. A short, stocky, brutal man with red hair, freckles, and little blue eyes, he has risen from his poor white beginnings to hold power over the Dutton slaves. After serving in the Confederate Army, he marries a banker's daughter and himself becomes a banker. He attempts to steal the Dutton property after it has been left to the mentally ill Lillian, but his plan is foiled by Lillian's aunt and uncle.