Linden Hills: Analysis of Major Characters
"Linden Hills: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the complex interactions and contrasting lives of key figures residing in the titular neighborhood, an affluent area that epitomizes the struggles between wealth, identity, and community. The narrative centers on Willie Mason, a young African American poet who, despite being intelligent and well-read, grapples with his place in society. He embodies idealism, seeking authenticity through his poetry while navigating the harsh realities of life on the fringes of Linden Hills. His friend, Lester Tilson, serves as a cynical counterpart, embodying the tension between disdain for materialism and the comforts it provides, as they both work to earn money over the Christmas season.
At the heart of the story is Luther Nedeed, a wealthy mortician whose legacy is steeped in the complexities of family and power. His controlling nature and the tragic fate of his family highlight the toll that such wealth can exact. Willa Prescott Nedeed, Luther's wife, represents the struggles of identity and autonomy within a patriarchal system, ultimately transforming from a voiceless figure into a formidable presence as she confronts her husband's oppressive control. The characters collectively illustrate the nuanced dynamics of aspiration, despair, and the quest for self-definition within a community marked by both privilege and pain.
Linden Hills: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Gloria Naylor
First published: 1985
Genre: Novel
Locale: A suburb of a northern city
Plot: Social realism
Time: The 1980's
Willie Mason, an idealistic twenty-year-old African American poet who lives in a slum bordering the exclusive black neighborhood of Linden Hills. He survives by working odd jobs. Willie left school after completing the ninth grade, believing that he needed to live among the people in order to write, and he takes pride in memorizing and reciting poetry. Willie is intelligent and widely read but rather naïve, and he questions whether he has chosen the right path in life. When he joins his friend Lester to work in Linden Hills for money to spend at Christmas, he discovers the terrible price that people must pay to live there. Willie decides that he will never become part of the soulless society there.
Lester Tilson, Willie's friend, also twenty years old, a poet, and a dropout. He lives with his mother and sister in the first house in Linden Hills, one filled with discord. Lester scorns the materialism of Linden Hills, yet he accepts its comforts. He serves as Willie's cynical guide and companion as they work their way street by street to the bottom of the Hills and the home of Luther Nedeed.
Luther Nedeed, a wealthy fifth-generation mortician and head of the Tupelo Realty Corporation, which owns all the land in Linden Hills and leases property for a thousand years and a day. He is a carbon copy of his forefathers, all of whom were named Luther and were, like him, short, “frog-eyed,” and very dark. A baleful and enigmatic figure, he seems to control life and death in the Hills. Ironically, although he believes in the importance of family, he destroys many people, including his wife and son.
Willa Prescott Nedeed, Luther's wife. She is known only as “Mrs. Nedeed” until the final chapter. Unlike the earlier generations of nameless Nedeed wives, selected for their pale skin, Willa is brown-skinned. Like the others, however, she exists only to produce an heir. When she gives birth to a pale son, Luther refuses to recognize him, though the child resembles him in all other respects. Eventually, he locks Willa and their son in the basement, where the child dies. At first grief-stricken and paralyzed, Willa struggles to reclaim her identity and becomes a force with which to reckon.