In Watermelon Sugar: Analysis of Major Characters
"In Watermelon Sugar" is a novel set in the whimsical and surreal community of iDEATH, where the protagonist, an unnamed narrator, explores the complexities of life, relationships, and death in a unique environment. The narrator is depicted as a contemplative figure in his late twenties or thirties who enjoys solitary nighttime walks and reflects on his past experiences, including the tragic loss of his parents to tigers.
Two significant female characters shape the narrator's emotional landscape: Margaret, his former girlfriend, who grapples with her own struggles and ultimately meets a tragic fate, and Pauline, his current partner, who represents a more nurturing presence in his life. Charley, the unofficial leader of iDEATH, offers a sense of stability, while the disruptive influence of inBOIL, Charley's brother, reflects a darker aspect of the community, ultimately leading to chaos and self-destruction among his companions.
The novel invites readers to consider themes of love, loss, and the search for meaning within a fantastical yet deeply human setting, where the mundane and the extraordinary intersect. Through the lives of these characters, the story delves into the challenges of connection and the impact of individual choices on the collective well-being of a community.
In Watermelon Sugar: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Richard Brautigan
First published: 1968
Genre: Novel
Locale: Indeterminate
Plot: Surrealism
Time: Simultaneously no time and all times
The narrator, who has no conventional name; he tells the reader that his name might be anything that the reader happens to think of or any experience that the reader may remember. He seems to be in his late twenties or thirties and lives in the gentle fantasy community iDEATH, where the main activities are making things out of watermelon sugar, enjoying the company of the other citizens of the town, and walking about enjoying the sights, which include many statues of vegetables; many rivers, some of which are only a few inches wide; and the tombs of the dead, which are lighted with foxfire and which lie at the bottoms of the larger rivers. The narrator is writing one of the first books to be written in iDEATH in many years. He is unusual because he enjoys walking at night, an activity in which no one else in the town engages except a girl whom the narrator occasionally sees walking at night with a lantern. When he was a child, his parents were eaten by tigers, but the last tiger was killed some time ago, and the trout hatchery was built on the ashes of the animal's remains. The narrator once had a girlfriend named Margaret; his new girlfriend is named Pauline.
Margaret, the narrator's previous girlfriend, also in her late twenties or early thirties. She has a habit of stepping on the one board of the bridge leading to the narrator's house that makes a noise when it is stepped on. No one else seems to step on this board. Margaret and the narrator got along fine until Margaret began to visit the Forgotten Works, a sort of junkyard outside town where inBOIL and his unpleasant friends liked to drink and make trouble. The narrator wishes that Margaret would leave him alone. After inBOIL and his friends kill themselves, Margaret is the only person who seems to care very much. The narrator sees her hang herself while he is looking at the statue of mirrors. Margaret is buried in the river along with the other citizens of iDEATH.
Pauline, who also is in her twenties or thirties. She often cooks for the citizens of iDEATH at the place where they gather to eat. The narrator meets her there, and they walk around together and spend nights making love. She thinks that inBOIL and his friends are terrible people, and she cleans up the trout hatchery after the members of inBOIL's gang kill themselves there. The narrator later discovers that she is the girl with the lantern whom he has seen on his walks at night.
Charley, the unofficial leader of iDEATH, slightly older than the others. When there is trouble or a question to be answered, everyone naturally turns to him.
inBOIL, Charley's brother, a person who upsets the peace and order of iDEATH by spending time with his friends in the Forgotten Works, making whiskey from the things they find there and getting drunk. One day, they announce that they are going to show the citizens of iDEATH what iDEATH is really about. They gather them all in the trout hatchery and begin to cut off their own noses, fingers, toes, and ears until they bleed to death. This is their idea of what iDEATH really ought to be. The remaining citizens of iDEATH think that this activity is ridiculous and set about cleaning up the mess.