Roan Stallion: Analysis of Major Characters
"Roan Stallion: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the complex dynamics among the key figures in a narrative steeped in themes of beauty, power, and personal transformation. Central to the story is California, a young farm wife grappling with her tumultuous life, embodying both grace and burden. Her passionate encounter with the titular roan stallion represents a turning point, symbolizing her desire to break free from her troubled relationships and connect with a more profound strength. The character of Johnny, California's husband, serves as a foil; he is depicted as a physically deteriorating figure, marred by substance abuse and despair. Their daughter, Christine, adds another layer to the narrative, struggling with her own frailty and reflecting the generational impacts of her parents' choices. The roan stallion emerges as not just an animal but a potent symbol of natural beauty and the rejection of human flaws. Additionally, Jim Carrier plays a role in the story, representing the outside world and the complexities of breeding and ownership in the context of nature. This analysis invites readers to delve deeper into the interplay of these characters, highlighting their struggles and the overarching themes of redemption and the search for identity.
Roan Stallion: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Robinson Jeffers
First published: 1925
Genre: Poetry
Locale: Carmel Coast, California
Plot: Symbolism
Time: The 1920's
California, a young farm wife, the daughter of a Scottish sailor and a Spanish and Indian mother. She is graceful, lithe, strong, and darkly beautiful but soiled by her life with Johnny and his associates. Her passionate offering of herself to the stallion on a hilltop on an April night symbolizes her turning from her sordid relationships with men and her submission to the majestic strength and clean beauty of God. When, filled with hatred the next night, she flees from the drunken Johnny to the stallion's corral, she is followed by Johnny and his dog Bruno. The frightened Christine brings her mother a gun to kill the raging stallion. California shoots Bruno and watches the stallion crush Johnny with his hoofs and rend the lifeless body with his teeth. Then, faithful to her own race after all, she shoots the stallion and in stark agony turns toward her daughter like a woman who has killed God.
Johnny, her husband, an outcast Hollander. He has a pale face and burned-out blue eyes, and his still-young body is shriveled from debauchery.
Christine, their small blonde daughter, blue-eyed like her father, wizened of forehead and sickly in body.
The roan stallion, a symbol of the rejection of man and the embracing of natural life.
Jim Carrier, the owner of a bay mare bred to the roan stallion.