Ninety-two in the Shade: Analysis of Major Characters
"Ninety-two in the Shade" is a novel that explores the complex dynamics of its major characters, particularly focusing on Thomas Skelton, a young man aspiring to be a fishing guide in Key West. After returning to his hometown, Skelton makes a pivotal decision to pursue guiding after feeling disillusioned by other life choices. He faces threats from established guide Nichol Dance, a volatile and unstable man whose violent tendencies complicate the pursuit of Skelton's dream. The character of Faron Carter, Dance's associate, adds layers to the narrative, as he navigates his own troubled domestic life while remaining passive in the face of Dance's aggression.
Other significant characters include Goldsboro Skelton, Thomas's grandfather, whose manipulative wealth and power create a tense family dynamic; Miranda Cole, Thomas's girlfriend, who grapples with her relationship's uncertainties amid the looming threat from Dance; and Thomas's parents, who embody the theme of choosing paths by elimination, reflecting a legacy of poor decisions. Through these characters, the novel paints a vivid picture of ambition, fear, and the quest for identity against a backdrop of danger and instability.
Ninety-two in the Shade: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Thomas McGuane
First published: 1973
Genre: Novel
Locale: Key West, Florida
Plot: Comic realism
Time: The late 1960's
Thomas Skelton, a young man who wants to become a self-employed fishing guide with his own boat. After returning to his native Key West in a drug-induced state of confusion, Skelton decides that his road to sanity demands that he become a fishing guide. He has made this choice by “elimination”; everything else he has tried or considered is either un-appealing or beyond his talents. His determination is evident when he persists in his plan after Nichol Dance, one of the two established guides in the area, threatens to kill Skelton if he actually guides. Skelton does not take this threat lightly, knowing full well that Dance will do what he wants to do. He has the unique experience of living in a town where someone would enjoy taking his life. To economize, Skelton lives in an old airplane fuselage modified enough to serve as living quarters. There he reads books on fish and guiding, preparing for the day when he will only have to take clients one or two days a week, leaving the rest of the time for his own reading and fishing.
Nichol Dance, the fishing guide who threatens to kill Skelton if he actually guides out of his dock west of Marathon. He has a history of violence produced by a quick temper and is mentally unstable enough to do what will also destroy himself. He does not seem to dislike Skelton but believes that he must follow through to maintain his reputation and credibility. Because he often contemplates suicide, shooting someone else is not an especially momentous occasion to him.
Faron Carter, another fishing guide, who works with Dance when necessary. Although he does not approve of Dance's threat and perhaps does not fully believe it, he does nothing that might make Dance change his mind. His domestic life is in a shambles: His wife, an oversexed woman who tries to relive her days as a high school cheerleader, is a compulsive buyer who keeps Carter in debt and embarrassed from numerous repossessions. To help balance this problem, he seems to find pleasure in the activities of the waterfront, which include Dance's violence, threats, and pranks.
Goldsboro Skelton, Thomas Skelton's grandfather. He has become wealthy and influential from a life of graft and manipulation on the fringes of politics, having learned “to work the gaps of control that exist between all the little selfish combines.” He is feared for both his power and his eccentricity. Goldsboro offers to finance Thomas' guide business, but he gets pleasure from threatening to withdraw his support, then returning it without telling his grandson.
Miranda Cole, Skelton's girlfriend and a seventh-grade geography teacher. Although at times intense, their relationship seems basically casual and headed in no particular direction; it is clear that Skelton's plans to guide take precedence. Miranda is upset over Dance's threat but knows that pleading with Skelton will do no good. Her fear about what may happen causes her to leave town for Skelton's first day of guiding.
Skelton's father, a man who has voluntarily chosen to live for a while bedridden behind mosquito netting. He, like his son, makes choices by elimination, having tried his hand at running guns, manufacturing blimps, and operating a whore-house. From behind his mosquito netting, he watches football games on television and plays his violin. Eventually, he begins to slip out at night, catting around the seamier side of the town and waiting for the right moment to talk with his son in hopes of dissuading him from pursuing his plan.
Skelton's mother, a former whore in her husband's whore-house. She is an unfortunate woman, in the same family with three abnormal men. She has no influence on these men and functions mainly as an excuse for them to come together at her house on occasion.