Plum Bun: Analysis of Major Characters
"Plum Bun: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the complex lives of characters navigating identity, race, and societal expectations in early 20th-century America. The protagonist, Angela Murray, is an art student who can "pass" as white, allowing her to achieve a level of success in the predominantly white art world. However, her journey reveals the sacrifices she makes, including alienating her darker-skinned sister, Virginia, who finds comfort within the vibrant black community of the Harlem Renaissance. The narrative also includes significant male figures, such as Roger Fielding, a wealthy playboy whose relationship with Angela underscores the tensions between love and societal pressures, and Anthony Cross, a talented artist who shares Angela's hidden racial identity, complicating their relationship. The character of Rachel Powell, a fellow student denied an art scholarship due to her race, serves as a turning point for Angela, prompting her to confront her own identity. Through these characters, the story illustrates the struggles and realizations surrounding racial identity and the consequences of living a life of deceit. Ultimately, Angela's journey leads to a powerful acknowledgment of her mixed heritage and the embrace of her true self.
Plum Bun: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Jessie Redmon Fauset
First published: 1928
Genre: Novel
Locale: Philadelphia and New York City
Plot: Social realism
Time: 1900 to the 1920's
Angela Murray or Angèle Mory, an art student struggling to survive in the art world. The most important fact in the life of this attractive, ambitious, and idealistic young protagonist is that she can “pass” as white, although she is approximately three-quarters black. The story follows her career from late childhood in a black ghetto in Philadelphia to relative success in the artistic world of New York City in her late twenties. By that time, she is fully accepted as white and seems well on her way to professional and financial success. Wealthy white men court her. She has made great sacrifices to attain her position: She already has been the mistress of one rich white man and has further sacrificed her moral principles by alienating herself from her younger sister, who has dark skin and would be unacceptable in the racist circles in which Angela moves. Eventually, Angela realizes that the advantages of being white are not worth the humiliation of having to lie to everyone she knows, both black and white. She publicly acknowledges her mixed blood and accepts the consequences.
Virginia (Jinny) Murray, Angela's younger sister, a music teacher. This talented, refined, sweet-tempered girl aspires to social and financial advancement like her sister but has neither the desire nor the opportunity to enter the white world. Consequently, when she follows Angela to New York, she enters the world of black artists and intellectuals active in the Harlem Renaissance; she is happy and comfortable in this world. It is mainly Jinny's example that makes Angela realize she has made a mistake in living a life of deceit and denial of her own people.
Roger Fielding, a rich white playboy. This selfish, worldly young New Yorker falls in love with Angela, whom he takes to be white, but will not marry her because his father insists on his marrying a debutante. Instead, Roger persuades Angela to become his kept mistress. The relationship deteriorates after he loses respect for her and tires of domesticity. He has a strong influence on her development. Some of his sophistication rubs off on her and enables her to move with ease in higher social circles; however, he makes her realize that true love is what she craves and what is missing in her life of deceit.
Anthony Cross, a talented portrait painter. This handsome, passionate young South American is also hiding the fact that he is a mulatto. He loves Angela but shuns her because he believes that she is pure white and would be appalled if she knew the truth about his ethnicity. He becomes involved with Jinny, which causes Angela great distress: She has realized too late that she loves Anthony and now cannot bring herself to try to win him away from her own beloved sister. Anthony serves as another example of the pain and futility involved in denying one's true racial identity. Eventually, matters resolve themselves satisfactorily when Jinny marries another man and Anthony is free to follow Angela to Paris.
Ralph Ashley, a shy, introverted young white man who falls in love with Angela and tries to persuade her to marry him after her breakup with Roger Fielding. Even though Angela does not love Ashley, she nearly accepts his proposal because of the comforts and security he can offer, an indication of how her values have been eroded by her life of deceit.
Rachel Powell, a young black woman, a fellow art student and friend of Angela. The climax of the novel comes when Rachel is denied passage to Europe on an art scholarship because she is black. Angela, outraged, publicly announces her own racial identity and abandons her life of lies.
Junius Murray and Mattie Murray, the parents of Angela and Virginia. They die early in the novel. The father has very dark skin, but the mother can pass as white and first gives Angela the idea of doing this on a permanent basis.