Solstice: Analysis of Major Characters
"Solstice: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the complex lives of its central figures, primarily focusing on Monica Jensen, a recently divorced woman seeking to rebuild her life as an English teacher at Glenkill Academy for Boys. Nearing thirty, Monica grapples with her past, marked by a failed marriage and an abortion, which she attempts to overcome through intense work and isolation. Her character is depicted as self-absorbed yet conscientious, embodying a struggle for personal stability amid her tumultuous history.
In contrast to Monica, Sheila Trask is a nonrepresentational painter with a stormy temperament and a reputation for erratic behavior, including substance use. Sheila's bold personality and artistic genius draw Monica into a complicated friendship, despite their differences. The presence of other characters, such as Harold Bell, Monica's unsupportive ex-husband, and Morton Flaxman, Sheila's late husband whose artwork symbolizes deeper themes in the narrative, enriches the exploration of relationships and personal identity.
The interactions with characters like Keith Renwick, an unsettling lawyer, and Jill Starkie, a socially intrusive chaplain's wife, further illustrate the social dynamics and challenges Monica faces as she navigates her new environment. This analysis provides a lens through which to examine themes of self-discovery and the impact of past relationships in shaping one's identity.
Solstice: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Joyce Carol Oates
First published: 1985
Genre: Novel
Locale: Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: The 1980's
Monica Jensen, the protagonist and viewpoint character. Nearly thirty years old and recently divorced, she bears a tiny scar on her jaw as a reminder of her failed marriage of nine years. She has undergone an abortion. To obliterate her past, she takes a position teaching English at an elite preparatory school, the Glenkill Academy for Boys in rural Pennsylvania. She rents an old farmhouse that she plans to refurbish, just as she seeks to remake her life. Cherishing her solitude, she works to the point of exhaustion, preparing courses and helping students while devoting weekends to household repair. Monica is self-absorbed, diffident, conscientious, and sensible. The blonde woman was once called a “golden girl,” an epithet that reverberates throughout the novel but one she often questions. Her desire is to recover her calm and stability.
Sheila Trask, a nonrepresentational painter of minor renown and widow of a famed sculptor. One of many artists scattered in Glenkill, Sheila lives at Edgemont, her country estate a few miles from Monica's farmhouse. Physically and emotionally in contrast to Monica, Sheila is tall and lanky with olive skin, black hair, and gypsy eyes. Her temperament is stormy; she is given to manic mood swings. She is rumored to experiment with drugs and alcohol. She suffers bouts of artist's block and depression, but when energized, she paints with compulsive fury. Often she appears untidy and soiled. Sheila sends ambiguous gender signals. Stalking about in boots and smelling of horses and sweat, cigarettes, and turpentine, she exudes an air of swaggering masculinity, but she can also present herself as seductively feminine. Sheila makes the first overtures to Monica, brusquely invading her privacy. Against her will, Monica finds Sheila's eccentricity, talent, and aggressive bids for attention to be irresistible.
Harold Bell, Monica's former husband. He pushed her during a quarrel, and she cut her jaw. With shame and embarrassment, Monica reflects on his fussy self-importance. He does not appear in the novel, but twice he sends her letters, which she ignores.
Morton Flaxman, Sheila's deceased husband, who had been a sculptor. He exists as a remembered presence and is the novel's only appealing male character. His cryptic sculpture Solstice stands on the Glenkill campus. Monica studies his photograph, noting his strength, sensuality, and fatherliness and envying what she assumes was Sheila's exciting marriage.
Keith Renwick, a lawyer who takes Monica to dinner. Athletic and courteous, he shows a sinister side with his library on weaponry and survivalist techniques.
Jackson Winthrop, a sketchily drawn guest at a party hosted by Sheila. He invites Monica out and rapes her.
Jill Starkie, the meddlesome wife of Glenkill's chaplain. Comically portrayed, Jill dresses like a teenager to play a sisterly role to her daughters. She provides Monica's chief link to the social community, inviting her to parties where guests ridicule the quirks of local artists, notably Sheila. Jill patronizes Monica at first but drops her when Monica persists in her friendship with the bizarre Sheila.