The Darkest Child

Rozelle Quinn is Tangy’s mother. She’s a complex character who, at different points, acts as both a protector and a villain. Rozelle is manipulative, cruel, prejudiced, and abusive, but she can also be loving, supportive, and fun. These seemingly contradictory qualities confuse her children; some of them appear to give Rozelle extra chances because they believe she can change and that, someday, her positive qualities might eclipse her negative ones. For Tangy, waiting for Rozelle to change seems toxic, and her decision to leave with Laura at the novel’s end is the best way to ensure their safety. Rozelle illustrates The Complexities of Mother-Daughter Relationships Within Troubled Families, and although she possesses some positive qualities, Tangy ultimately decides that some of her actions are simply unforgivable, including murder and forced sex work.

Although Rozelle, as an abusive and even murderous mother, is often villainous, she is herself the survivor of an abusive mother, which further illustrates the complexities of mother-daughter relationships and how trauma can be passed down and compounded through generations. Rozelle was conceived after her mother, Zadie, was raped by a group of men; Zadie had trouble bonding with Rozelle and even views Rozelle as the devil’s child. After being kicked out of Zadie’s house at 13, Rozelle had little idea how to get by in the world, let alone raise children of her own. Although Rozelle is abusive in many ways, Pearl points out that, considering what happened to Rozelle as a child, it’s significant that Rozelle kept most of her children under her roof throughout their childhoods. Overall, the novel depicts mother-daughter relationships as fraught and complex, and it illustrates how trauma can become multigenerational.

Mushy, Tarabelle, and Martha Jean Quinn are Tangy’s older sisters, and all of them illustrate The Complexities of Mother-Daughter Relationships Within Troubled Families. Mushy is the eldest sibling and has already moved out of Rozelle’s house. Mushy may not have excelled in school, but she is smart, action-oriented, outspoken, and fun-loving. Although she’s left Rozelle’s house to avoid continuing to be forced into sex work, she also takes on a caretaking role toward her younger siblings, giving them advice and encouraging them to find ways to leave Rozelle’s house when their own time comes. Ironically, although Mushy was the first to leave Rozelle’s house, as the eldest daughter who has no children of her own, she’s the one who’s stuck taking care of Rozelle at the novel’s end. Mushy resents Rozelle because of her abuse, but she also gets along with her better than most people do, and Tarabelle even argues that Mushy and Rozelle are very similar. Rozelle’s relationships with all her children are complicated, but Mushy’s relationship with Rozelle is uniquely complicated due to her status as the eldest, her desire to help her siblings, and the affection she feels for her mother despite the abuse.

Tarabelle is 16 at the novel’s beginning. Tarabelle is assertive, outspoken, and independent, but her character arc is tragic and destructive. Whereas some of the other siblings struggle to reconcile their affection for Rozelle with the abuse they’ve been subjected to, Tarabelle does not seem to harbor much affection for Rozelle, and instead feels hatred, resentment, and a desire to be rid of her. Although Tarabelle is not as dark-skinned as Tangy, Edna, or Laura, she is gay, so she’s targeted by Rozelle more than other siblings and subjected to anti-gay emotional abuse in addition to physical abuse and forced sex work. Tarabelle expresses a wish to die, and also points out that many of the siblings’ problems would end if Rozelle were to die, which foreshadows how she burns Rozelle’s old house down, evidently in an attempt to kill Rozelle, but she ends up dying instead.

Martha Jean is 11 months older than Tangy, so she’s 14 at the beginning of the novel. Martha Jean is loving, kind, and maternal. Martha Jean is deaf and nonverbal; she doesn’t attend school or church, spending most of her time at home looking after her younger siblings, toward whom she’s adopted a caretaker role. Because she’s deaf, Martha Jean is also subjected to unique forms of abuse by Rozelle, who refuses to learn sign language and habitually uses ableist language against Martha Jean. Like several of her other siblings, Martha Jean illustrates how the intersection of identity categories can result in compounded forms of abuse and oppression. Rozelle doesn’t sell Martha Jean into traditional sex work, but she does sell her to an adult man, Velman Cooper, who Martha Jean marries and has two daughters with. On the one hand, this seems like a different form of sexual abuse, but on the other hand, Tangy is envious of Martha Jean because Velman “rescued” her from Rozelle’s clutches and the horrors of the farmhouse. However, rather than let envy come between them, Martha Jean and Tangy resolve to put their sisterhood first, demonstrating their loyalty toward each other, as well as their resilience.

Edna, Laura, and Judy Quinn are Tangy’s younger sisters, and they’re not as deeply characterized as Tangy’s older sisters. Laura, Edna, and Judy illustrate The Complexities of Mother-Daughter Relationships Within Troubled Families. Laura and Edna are often described as a unit until they’re separated later in the novel. Edna is four at the novel’s beginning, and she’s curious, imaginative, fun-loving, and sensitive. Like Tangy, she has darker skin, so Rozelle doesn’t favor her and believes she’ll never get married. Rozelle ultimately dumps Edna on Pearl and Frank because she’s Frank’s daughter. Edna is the only one of Rozelle’s children who she willingly kicks out of her house (besides Judy, who is also dark-skinned and whom Rozelle murders); the rest of them leave of their own accord. Rozelle’s rejection of Edna illustrates The Effects of Systemic Racism and Colorism on Individual and Family Dynamics.

Laura is five at the novel’s beginning. Like Edna, she’s curious, imaginative, fun-loving, and sensitive. Although the rest of the siblings leave one by one, Laura remains with Tangy throughout the novel and, by the end, Laura is the only sibling who Tangy can take with her when she leaves the state. Tangy is also able to exert more influence over Laura; for example, she teaches Laura that theft is illegal and immoral, even though Rozelle encouraged Laura to steal. Tangy’s education makes her a stronger and more capable caretaker for Laura, illustrating The Role of Education in Achieving Liberation.

Judy is the youngest sibling; Rozelle is still pregnant with her at the novel’s beginning and gives birth to her early on. Judy is dark-skinned like Tangy and Edna, and Rozelle’s treatment of Judy further illustrates Rozelle’s colorism. Rozelle refuses to breastfeed Judy even though she breastfed the rest of her children to save money. She avoids holding Judy or even going near her, leaving the task of raising Judy to her other children, especially Martha Jean. Lastly, Rozelle murders Judy. Generally, Rozelle dreads being abandoned by her children, so her rejection of Judy and Edna illustrates how insidious her colorism is.

Sam, Harvey, and Wallace Quinn are Tangy’s brothers. Harvey is several years older than Tangy. At first, Harvey seems responsible, hardworking, and peaceful, but later in the novel, after he moves out of Rozelle’s house and marries a woman named Carol Sue, he starts abusing her. Like many of the novel’s other characters, Harvey illustrates how a single person can have both positive and negative qualities, playing different roles to different people.

Sam is also a few years older than Tangy. Sam is smart, charming, idealistic, loyal, and politically active, but he can also be impulsive. Sam is light-skinned and favored by Rozelle, yet his character arc tragically illustrates The Effects of Systemic Racism and Colorism on Individual and Family Dynamics. Sam says he wants to fix the town, otherwise “erase” it, foreshadowing his destructive actions later in the novel. Because Junior was last seen with a white man, but Sheriff Betts argues that white men wouldn’t hang around Black men, Sam is blamed for Junior’s murder and is imprisoned for an unfairly long time until this accusation is apparently cleared. By the time Sam is released from jail, he’s so angry that he burns some white businesses, then flees town to avoid persecution, bringing the earlier foreshadowing to fruition.

Wallace is a couple of years younger than Tangy. Wallace is curious, smart, action-oriented, resourceful, and kind. At first, he’s probably the sibling with whom Tangy is the closest, likely due to his intelligence and his talent for finding out information. For example, Wallace is the first to discover the gender of the new baby sibling (Judy), and he also discovers that Zadie, the local midwife, is Rozelle’s mother and the kids’ grandmother. Although Wallace and Tangy are close as children, bonding over their shared experiences and sharing coping strategies, they drift apart over the years, partially due to their gender and color. Whereas Tangy is sold into sex work and subjected to extra abuse due to her gender and her color, Wallace can’t understand these experiences and isn’t able to offer Tangy much meaningful support, although he has great affection for her.

Pearl Garrison is Rozelle’s best friend, and Frank is Pearl’s husband. Pearl and Frank’s economic prospects are limited due to their race and the setting, but they are still more well-off than Tangy’s family (and most Black families in town). Pearl has delivered all of Rozelle’s babies, and, to some extent, she acts as a donor character and an additional mother figure for Rozelle’s children. For example, Pearl gives the kids socks for their birthdays, gives the Quinns a turkey for Thanksgiving, and sometimes advises Rozelle and the kids about their problems. Pearl is friendly, kind, and fun-loving, and she also often calls Rozelle out when she goes too far with her abuse. Although Pearl’s ability to protect the children is limited, her efforts are commendable and her support is meaningful, so the kids experience a major loss when Pearl quarrels with Rozelle and disappears from their lives for over a year.

In addition to being Pearl’s husband, Frank is also Edna’s father and a former customer of Rozelle’s, although this is a secret for most of the novel. The secret history between Rozelle and Frank is the reason why Frank often seems unfriendly, grumpy, and judgmental. Frank provides contrast to Rozelle because, until Rozelle dumps Edna on Frank and Pearl after an argument, Frank does nothing to contribute to Edna’s upbringing. In this way, he resembles most of the kids’ fathers, and yet the fathers receive almost no blame or judgment for their lack of involvement, whereas the criticism and judgment that Rozelle receives is almost endless. This is not to say that Rozelle is a good parent; however, the contrast between the criticism she receives and the criticism the fathers receive reveals a cultural problem with misogyny, especially with respect to mothers.

Junior and Hambone are political activist friends of Sam and Harvey, and they both illustrate The Effects of Systemic Racism and Colorism on Individual and Family Dynamics. Junior is a substitute teacher at Tangy’s school, as well as an itinerant educator who teaches reading and writing to rural citizens who lack access to effective formal education. Tangy admires Junior because he’s smart, accomplished, and a visionary; he’s supportive of her and believes in The Role of Education in Achieving Liberation. Junior is lynched by Chadlow, likely due to being outspoken about unfair and illegal racist practices in the town. Although Junior doesn’t receive justice in a traditional sense, since Chadlow is never tried for the murder, Chadlow still meets his end, and Junior’s legacy of fighting racial inequality through education lives on through characters like Tangy.

Hambone works as a window washer and is also an activist, often giving impassioned speeches to inspire the community to action. Whereas Junior thinks education is the key to social change, Hambone sometimes advocates for more drastic methods, although he believes that ignorance is at the heart of structural inequality. Despite Hambone’s commendable political activities, he, like Harvey, is an imperfect character because he is abusive toward women; specifically, he sexually assaults Tangy. However, Hambone does demonstrate the capacity to be corrected and to change, because he alters his behavior after Tarabelle confronts him about it. Hambone illustrates how a single person can play a multitude of different roles, and also how people can improve over time if they commit.

Angus Betts is the local sheriff, and Chadlow is a white man who isn’t technically a police officer but is permitted to patrol the town with a gun and arrest people. Angus Betts and Chadlow both illustrate The Effects of Systemic Racism and Colorism on Individual and Family Dynamics. Sheriff Betts is ineffective, racist, and quite lazy, often ignoring problems rather than trying to serve and protect the community. For example, he doesn’t try to correct the behavior of temporary employers who lie about how much they’ll be paying Black men to work for them, nor does he attempt to solve Junior’s murder or figure out whether Rozelle killed Judy on purpose. Sheriff Betts is also possibly Sam’s father, but he does nothing to help Sam; on the contrary, he wrongly holds him in prison for a murder that he didn’t commit. Sheriff Betts makes the town worse through his inaction, so he is arguably a villain.

Whereas Sheriff Betts renders the town worse through his inaction and ineffectiveness, Chadlow actively makes the town worse through violent, unsafe, reckless, and racist behavior. For example, Chadlow opens and discards other people’s mail; lynches Junior; and repeatedly sexually abuses a minor (Tangy). Despite these crimes, and despite not being a police officer, Chadlow is treated as if he’s an agent of the law and is allowed to patrol the same town that he terrorizes, arresting other people, even those whose crimes pale in comparison to his own. Chadlow is a pure villain without much nuance, and the fact that his race allows him to get away with heinous crimes for so long illustrates the effects of systemic racism.