Roger's Version: Analysis of Major Characters
"Roger's Version" presents a complex exploration of faith, relationships, and personal crises through its major characters. Roger Lambert, a disillusioned university professor of divinity, grapples with a loss of faith and a tumultuous past marked by infidelity and the challenges of his academic pursuits. His skeptical worldview is sharply contrasted by Dale Kohler, a fervent believer and innovative graduate student, who embodies hope and ambition, seeking to bridge the gap between technology and spirituality. As Dale engages Roger in deep discussions about existence and faith, he also disrupts Roger's personal life by becoming romantically involved with Roger's wife, Esther Lambert.
Esther, caught in her own midlife struggles, attempts to reclaim her vibrancy through an affair with Dale, leading to her eventual disillusionment. This love triangle complicates their lives and sparks a cascade of emotional turmoil. Verna Ekelof, Roger's niece, adds another layer to the narrative; as a young mother grappling with her own challenges, she elicits both Roger's reluctant support and an unexpected intimacy. Through these intertwined relationships, "Roger's Version" delves into themes of belief, desire, and the quest for meaning in a contemporary context, inviting readers to reflect on the profound complexities of human connection and spiritual inquiry.
Roger's Version: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: John Updike
First published: 1986
Genre: Novel
Locale: An unnamed city in New England
Plot: Philosophical realism
Time: 1984–1985
Roger Lambert, a university professor of divinity. A former minister, Roger lost his pulpit when he became involved in an adulterous relationship with Esther, who later became his second wife. Now in his early fifties, Roger seems also to have lost his faith. Roger is an adherent of the reforming Protestant theologian Karl Barth, and his academic specialty is the Skeptics. His skeptical approach to religion is challenged by Dale Kohler, a graduate student who enters Roger's life seeking funding for a project that will attempt a mathematical proof of God's existence.
Dale Kohler, a computer expert and perennial student who has both a profound belief in God and an ambition to provide Him with an opportunity to speak to humanity through Dale's digital manipulation of data. Dale serves as Roger's “Inquisitor” as the two engage in lengthy debates about the import of God and the meaning of faith. Dale also serves as Roger's foil when he becomes a tutor to Roger's son and, consequently, Esther's lover. By reintroducing Roger to his niece, Verna Ekelof, whom Dale meets in a church group, Dale provides a means for Roger to reconnect, if not with God, at least with the more mundane import of his own existence.
Esther Lambert, Roger's wife. Now in her late thirties, Esther has grown weary of her relationship with her husband and concerned with her own midlife crisis. In an attempt to seize the day and recover some of the excitement that has gone out of her life, Esther seduces Dale, who soon falls hopelessly in love with her sexual daring. She later tires of the affair. Her rejection proves to be the catalyst for Dale's loss of religious faith.
Verna Ekelof, the daughter of Roger's half sister, Edna, with whom Roger had a love-hate relationship during their midwestern childhood. Verna is a young white woman who, at the age of nineteen, is the single mother of a half-black toddler, Paula, whom she regards with a mixture of affection and loathing. Fleeing her disapproving parents in Ohio, Verna moved to the city where Roger, her uncle, lives. She ekes out a living on welfare. Roger, who seems at first to feel no obligation to help Verna, is goaded into action by Dale. Verna, for her part, proves singularly intransigent. Verna expresses less interest in pursuing a high school equivalency diploma than in seducing Roger, whose own motivations in attempting to tutor her are not unblemished. Roger does help Verna, giving her money occasionally and assisting her through an abortion and an unpleasant encounter with the authorities that follows an episode of child abuse. Verna, who finally manages to get Roger into her bed, seems to help him let go of some of the fears and inhibitions that have contributed to his rigidity and disaffection with life.