Season of Adventure: Analysis of Major Characters

Author: George Lamming

First published: 1960

Genre: Novel

Locale: San Cristobal, a Caribbean island

Plot: Social

Time: In the third year of postcolonial independence

Fola Piggott, a recent graduate of an exclusive girls' college on the Caribbean island of San Cristobal. The beautiful eighteen-year-old mulatta is established in a well-to-do middle-class family. Initially, she is inquisitive and sincere but unsure of herself. In her attempt to link with her private and cultural past, she seeks knowledge of her unknown father. This quest leads her to form relations with the peasant community, embodied in a tract of land called the Forest Reserve. Her “backward glance” in affirmation of the past estranges her from her stepfather and mother's set, who would “wipe out” much of their Afro-Caribbean ethnic roots. Having taken her stand with the Forest Reserve community, she becomes more determined and plans to become a teacher.

Chiki, a rebel artist and painter with a battered body; he is missing an ear. Thirty-one years old but looking much older, he serves as a mentor and guide to Fola as she seeks connections with her past. A son of the Forest Reserve who bought the land with money earned in the United States, he casts his lot with the peasant populace and with its resolve to retain natural ethnic cultural ties in a stance of truth.

Police Commissioner “Piggy” Piggott, Fola's stepfather, an insecure official of Forest Reserve origins. “Made” by his wife's urgings and promptings, he has risen from the low ranks of the colonial constabulary to a high position in independent San Cristobal. Attempting to escape the past, he is inspired by materialism and privilege. He is a prime agent of the attempt to suppress the steel drum bands. He loves his stepdaughter and is unable to have children of his own.

Agnes Piggott, Fola's mother, who lives a life of leisure. A proud beauty with a sharp tongue, married for twelve years to Piggy Piggott, she has been a steering force in her husband's rise in the island's political hierarchy. She is envious of Fola's close relationlship with her stepfather; it is closer than that between Fola and Agnes. She claims that Fola's natural father is dead; in fact, she does not know who he is because she had sexual relations with the bishop's nephew, then was raped by Chiki's brother.

Gort, a master drummer, a Forest Reserve confidant of Chiki and Powell. Gentle yet strong, he leads the revolt of the drums in successful challenge of the proclamation banning the steel bands.

Powell, the leader of a steel drum band, a self-educated son of the Forest Reserve. Often perplexed by curious paradoxes that confuse his thinking, he clings sullenly to peasant roots. He kills Vice-President Raymond as a despicable class enemy, and he attempts to kill Fola from a similar motivation. He is able to keep his role in the assassination hidden from the authorities.

Charlot Pressoir, a history teacher at San Cristobal's most exclusive girls' college. Until six months ago, Fola had been his pupil. Of European and Chinese descent, he is about thirty years old. He comes to accept that the past has an inescapable effect on people of the present. He returns to England.

Lady Carol Baden-Semper, a wealthy society matron, a pretentious but candid stalwart of the island's elite class. Freckled and apparently in her sixties, she is a kind of seer to the younger generation of Fola's class. Her wealth is built on a foundation of counterfeit money.

Dr. Kofi James Williams Baako, a college professor of science and technology and an old college friend of Chiki. A reformist, he becomes president of the Second Republic of San Cristobal two months after peasant demonstrations prompt the fall of the First Republic.

Veronica Raymond, the image-conscious daughter of the vice-president and Fola's close friend. Grief-stricken over her father's murder, she betrays Fola's confidence.

Therese, a maidservant to the Piggotts. In starched blue uniform and stiff, white cap, she is austere with strangers and contemptuous of surbordinates and guests not of equal status with her employers.

Vice-President Raymond, a man who, like Police Commissioner Piggott, has risen from the colonial clerical ranks to a lofty position in independence. Powell, spurred on by an incident involving Raymond's haughty contemptuousness, later kills Raymond.

Liza, a child of the Forest Reserve. About six years old, she is precocious and has a lively gift of gab. She is one of several children who flock around Gort and in whom he glories.

Bobby Chalk, called Old Magdala, a proud, now blind, elderly Englishman, a former engineer and longtime resident of the island. Gort and others call him Old Magdala, a name derived from the bridge spanning the river that divides the island in half. He is a drinking companion of Gort in the Moon Glow Bar.

Eva Bartok Turnstyle, a vivacious young office worker of quick wit and acerbic tongue. A girl of the lower class, she owes her position in part to her clandestine meetings with Vice-President Raymond. She is envious of Veronica and Fola's higher social status. Used and jilted by Dr. Camillon, Eva dies from complications surrounding an abortion.

Belinda, a short, thick woman with fuzzy hair and large copper earrings. She plies the trade of prostitution to buy books for her son, who has won a scholarship to a government college.

Dr. Camillon, a young surgeon. His name is suggestive of his deceitful character. He attempts to seduce Fola, but he exposes himself as dispassionate and self-centered.

The Houngan, a voodoo priest. He officiates over the tonelle in which Fola has a troubling visionary experience as a medium of possession in a voodooistic Ceremony of Souls.