Morning, Noon, and Night: Analysis of Major Characters
"Morning, Noon, and Night" provides an intricate exploration of several major characters intertwined in a narrative centered around Henry Dodd (Hank) Worthington, a reflective man in his late sixties who narrates his life journey. As the head of a successful consulting firm in New York, Hank reflects on his privileged upbringing, complicated relationships, and personal transformations. His relationships with family members, including his grandfather Ethelbert "Cubby" Dodd, a once-prominent academic, and his father Franklin Pierce Worthington, a conventional college president, shape his identity and legacy.
The narrative also delves into Hank's marriage to Judith Conway, a talented artist whose life takes unexpected turns, culminating in a divorce that leads to both their individual struggles and successes. Their daughter, Elaine, grapples with her own turbulent marital history and questions her parentage, revealing deeper family complexities. Other significant figures include Jon Le Cato, Hank’s loyal friend and attorney, and Charlotte Thom Peckham, who transitions from Hank's assistant to his wife, ultimately facing tragic circumstances. Through these characters, the story weaves themes of ambition, love, loss, and the existential reflections that accompany aging, providing a rich tapestry of human experience.
Morning, Noon, and Night: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: James Gould Cozzens
First published: 1968
Genre: Novel
Locale: Boston, New York City, Washington, D.C., and a New England college town
Plot: Social
Time: Primarily the 1920's to the 1960's
Henry Dodd (Hank) Worthington, the narrator, the head of a prosperous management consulting firm in a suburb of New York City. His viewpoint is that of a reflective, dispassionately honest man in his late sixties. He recalls himself in earlier scenes: as the privileged child of a New England college president; as a teenager, stealing stamps at school, but through cleverness and luck concealing his own guilt while gaining popularity defending an innocent friend; again in his teens, submitting to the expert seduction of a married woman who, in the opinion of an older, wiser Hank, was executing a curious revenge on her philandering husband; at Harvard, now tall, handsome, and sophisticated, enjoying the friendship of athletic Percy Cundill, literary Knox Frothingham, and sharp-witted Jon Le Cato; and after graduation, abandoning literature, falling in love with Judith Conway, and casually taking the job that will lead to his highly successful career.
Ethelbert Cuthbertson “Cubby” Dodd, Hank's maternal grandfather, who was, for a time, the most famous member of the college faculty. His fame derived from attacking Sigmund Freud. By the time Cubby retires, most academic psychologists have forgotten him. Living into his nineties, he becomes legendary for great teaching and scholarship, but the legend is largely false on both counts.
Franklin Pierce Worthington, Hank's father, descended from generations of educated New Englanders. A Harvard Ph.D. specializing in Geoffrey Chaucer, he teaches at the college and then becomes its competent, conventional president. He and Hank's mother die accidentally, leaving a legacy that helps Hank start his own business.
Judith Conway, Hank's first wife, the mother of Elaine. She is dark of eye and hair, slender, and fair. Judith grows up in the same college town, the daughter of a peculiarly dedicated Anglo-Catholic priest. An unexpected legacy permits her to study art in Boston. Judith quickly wins Hank's love after an accidental meeting. She is the best of wives for about fifteen years. Hank then sees a sort of dual personality; when the “other” Judith urgently desires a divorce so that she may marry a lover, Hank consents. The lover deserts her, however, and Judith starts a new career selling antiques. With Hank's help, she becomes quite successful. Years later, she dies of cancer.
Elaine Worthington, the only child of Hank and Judith. She has a lovely face and figure at the age of nineteen but shows slightly the effects of good eating and drinking when, in her early thirties, she consults her father about the collapse of her third marriage. Only then does she ask Hank if he is sure that she is his child; only then does Hank learn that Elaine knew as a child of her mother's adulteries. Elaine's two children, by her first marriage, have died in an airplane accident associated with her first divorce.
Jonathan (Jon) Le Cato, from the Eastern Shore of Virginia, who first meets Hank at prep school and rooms with him at Harvard. As a boy, his round face, round ears, and quarter-round nose make him look odd, but his furious courage keeps bullies away. Established as an attorney in New York City, he becomes counsel to Hank's growing firm. He secures the attractive house near the Pentagon that he and Hank share during their World War II service. As Hank concludes his reflections from the evening of life, this best of lifelong friends has died.
Charlotte Thom Peckham, the daughter of the college bursar. Neat, pretty, and bright, Charlotte returns from Smith College and marries Frederick Peckham, a professor of physics twice her age, only to lose him within two years to a racing car accident. An expert at shorthand, she applies to Hank's firm for work; she becomes Hank's most valued assistant, then mistress, then wife. A mysterious recurring depression compels her to commit suicide.
Leon Garesche, an amiable, aging, and befuddled bill collector, package forwarder, and purveyor of self-help literature who gratefully takes Hank as an assistant on the suggestion of Hank's Uncle Tim, a successful banker. Garesche's ineptitude awakens Hank's interest in scientific management; his sudden death forces Hank to go into business for himself.