The owner of the Rainbow Club, Grant's favorite haunt in Bayonne. Joe keeps a close eye on the bar to prevent fights from breaking out, but he is a generous spirit and helps Grant to buy the radio for Jefferson.
Joe's wife, Thelma Claiborne, manages the Rainbow Club. She knows many members of the community and often chats with patrons. Grant's student teacher, Irene Cole, is often left in charge of the class when Grant does not show up for school. Although she behaves girlishly, Vivian believes she is in love with Grant. A handyman often employed by Henri Pichot. Henri often sends Farrell to make deliveries and bring news to Grant. Sam Guidry, the local sheriff, is in charge of the prison where Jefferson is kept.
He is also close friends with his brother-in-law, Henri Pichot. It is hinted that she is an alcoholic. The superintendent of schools in St. Raphael parish. Although he is an important figure, Grant does not respect him, noting that he is fat and lazy, and spends twice as much time at the white schools as he does at the ones for African-American students.
A young deputy who works at the jail in Bayonne, Paul is better educated than many of the other police officers. Over the course of the novel, he becomes increasingly sympathetic to Jefferson and Miss Emma. A loud, unhappy prisoner at the jail, who often yells to Grant and Miss Emma when they visit Jefferson.
Rita Lawrence is an older woman from the quarter and something of a busybody. She takes care of her grandson, Bok, who is insane but too benign to be institutionalized. A tall mulatto bricklayer. Grant brawls with him after hearing Griffin insult Jefferson to his friends at the Rainbow Club. For example, Grant was raised by his mother's aunt, because his parents are out in California. Tante Lou raised his mother, too, when her mother took off.
Jefferson is raised by his godmother, Miss Emma, because his parents aren't around. This type of family lets us know something about the women, like Lou and Emma, who are so devoted to their families that they raise generation after generation of children that aren't their own.
It also lets us know some of the pain that guys like Jefferson and Grant feel because their parents left them behind. Lots of the people who stick around the plantation do so because they want to help the community.
Grant and Vivian are teachers, which tells us that they are or want to be hopeful about the future. The Reverend, too, is interested in helping people out, but he does it in a different way. Grant and Jefferson, our two main men in the book, both have first names that are important last names in American history. Ulysses S. Grant was a Union general who oversaw the end of the Civil War and later became president of the United States.
Thomas Jefferson was another president and had a pretty sticky relationship with slavery. The white superintendent of schools. Like Pichot, Dr. Joseph knowingly maintains the status quo: black oppression under a fundamentally racist system. A hypocrite, Mr. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Themes Motifs Symbols. Mini Essays Suggested Essay Topics. Suggestions for Further Reading Ernest J.
Characters Character List. Grant Wiggins The protagonist and narrator of the novel, an elementary school teacher in his mid-twenties. Jefferson A sincere, sensitive, young black man of below-average intelligence. Sheriff Guidry An authoritarian man who runs the prison in Bayonne. Henri Pichot A stubborn white man with a sense of duty, he owns the plantation where Grant spent his childhood. Joseph Morgan The white superintendent of schools. Next section Grant Wiggins.
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