Anne Faulkner:
Guy’s fiance who positivity counteracts Guy’s negativity. Guy truly loves Anne and she always wants the best for Guy. However, the obstacles in their relationship are due to the fact that it seems like Guy is hiding a dark secret from her. Therefore, Anne experiences brief instances of lack of trust. The substantiality of her name is that Anne is always seen with the color white. Throughout the entire book, Anne is always described with holy motifs such as compassion, understanding nature, and halos. Anne means “grace”, and has the same name as Saint Anne. Saint Anne is the mother of Virgin Mary who was Jesus’s mother. By comparing her to a saint, this indicates that whenever Guy is in demise, Anne is there to give him comfort and understanding in order to help Guy go through these difficult obstacles in life.
Arthur Gerard:
Gerard is the private detective for the Bruno family and his goal is to find out who murdered Charles Bruno’s father. Gerard is cunning, persistent, and has the ability to deduce facts from the suspects quickly. Gerard primarily suspects Charles Bruno but there is a lack of evidence against Bruno. Eventually, Bruno spends too much time with Guy and Gerard catches on to Guy’s involvement in the murder. In the end, Gerard exposes both Guy and Bruno by recording Guy’s confession to Owen in a hotel room. Overall, Gerard’s actions are symbolic of society’s law acting upon the crimes present in the world and ultimately shows that society will punish criminals for their wrongdoings.
CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS
Guy Haines:
The protagonist who is moral, handsome, conservative, and ambitious. He is an eminent architect, and is about to marry Anne. He ends up killing Bruno’s father, and at the end of the book, ends up indirectly turning himself in to the police. Guy shows the good in human nature that succumbs to the imminent evil forces. His name is substantial because by using the common name Guy, which is not distinct, this shows that any common man can commit murder just like he had. Even though Guy was an ordinary guy, because of a course of events, he ended up becoming a murderer. Guy shows growth throughout the novel because he realizes his true inner evil, and also starts to understand Bruno’s yearning for a friend. At the end of the book, even after his despise for Bruno, he sees him as a brother and friend.
Charles Anthony Bruno:
The antagonist who meets Guy Haines on the train, and actually starts planning out the murder of Miriam and his father. He is a psychotic man who is from a wealthy family, and kills Miriam. In addition, he has a close relationship to his mother, and gets angry when she is with other men. Bruno also grew up without having a significant father figure in his life, and he grew up hating his father. He also never had a woman he truly loved in his life, and only experienced relationships with them temporarily. He aspires to become like Guy because he wants to comform to the rest of society, and he wants to become Guy’s close friend. He intends to kill Miriam in order for Guy to not live with the burden of her anymore, so Guy can truly follow out with his dream as an architect.
Miriam Haines:
Guy’s ex-wife. Guy wants to divorce her because he cheated on him with Owen. However, due to Guy`s dislike for his unloyal wife, this causes Bruno to murder her. She denies Guy’s request to have a divorce because she is tired of staying in one place, and wants to follow Guy to Palm Beach, even if Guy does not take her. She wants to stay as Guy’s husband until she gives birth to another man’s son. Due to this, Guy becomes disgusted at her, and her flirtatious and not loyal manner with many men. Since Guy sees Miriam with disgust, this leads Bruno to also see MIriam with disgust, and he enjoys murdering her.