Jacob Have I Loved

Caroline is Louise’s twin who was born small, weak, and sickly. She spends several months in the hospital as an infant, which contributes to the sense in the family that she is fragile and precious. Unlike Louise, who is large and dark-featured, Caroline is dainty and pretty, with blonde curls and bright blue eyes. From an early age, she shows prodigious talent as a musician, particularly with singing, which the family supports with expensive music lessons on the mainland. The attention she receives for this talent fuels Louise’s jealousy and resentment.

Caroline is often portrayed by Louise as self-centered, with a strong opinion of her own abilities and importance. She declares at age 13 that she should write her life story for future generations. However, she also demonstrates empathy, such as when she attempts to comfort Louise, helps to find homes for the stray cats, and sings for Trudy following her stroke. Brief moments in the text—such as Caroline’s comment that she needs to leave the island to get away from Grandma—suggest that much of Caroline’s life remains hidden from Louise.

Truitt and Susan are Louise and Caroline’s parents. Truitt was born and raised on Rass Island and works as a crab fisherman. He fought in France during WWI and he met and married Susan on his return. Susan is an outsider on Rass Island, having arrived with romantic dreams of teaching young children and being out in the wilderness like a pioneer woman. While her parents seem like an unlikely match—Louise does not understand why an intelligent woman like Susan would marry a man like Truitt—their care for each other is demonstrated throughout the novel. Truitt and Susan appear to show a preference for Caroline, sacrificing financially and otherwise to help her succeed as a singer. However, Susan later points out that Louise never asked for anything or indicated that she wanted to leave. She also confesses that she will miss Louise when she leaves, even more than she misses Caroline.

Grandma Bradshaw, whose given name is also Louise, is Truitt’s mother and a born islander. She is a deeply devout Methodist, and she practices a particularly judgmental version of the religion. Some of her vitriol may stem from age and stress; although she is a contemporary of the Captain, she appears older and not aways in complete control of her emotions or other faculties. Nonetheless, she seems to be the only one aware of Louise’s feelings of neglect and resentment, as well as her feelings for the Captain, and mocks her relentlessly. Louise’s parents and Caroline learn to turn out Grandma’s more bitter remarks, but Louise feels them deeply.

McCall “Call” Purnell is Louise’s only friend. He is a year older than she is, “pudgy, bespectacled, and totally unsentimental” (5), and slow to mature. His father is dead, and he has been raised in relative poverty by his mother and grandmother. Louise remarks at the beginning of the story that he does not laugh and tells him jokes and puns to make him laugh. She does not succeed and is therefore jealous when Call laughs at the Captain’s jokes instead. According to Louise, Call is “good-hearted but second-rate” (147), and she believes he will not amount to much though she cares for him.

He drops out of school at age 16, choosing instead to work for Truitt to support his destitute family. This work helps him grow and mature, physically and emotionally, making him more attractive to both Louise and Caroline. He later joins the Navy to fight in WWII, and after the war, he marries Caroline and moves to New York to attend college on the GI Bill.

Hiram Wallace, whom Louise calls “the Captain,” returns to Rass Island after decades away. There are many rumors about him when he first arrives, though he eventually proves his identity by calling Trudy Braxton by her given name, rather than “Auntie” like everyone else on the island. As a young man, he and his father were out on a boat during a storm, and he cut the mast down in a panic, marking him as a coward. Soon after that, he left the island for good and fought in France during WWI. As a young man, his mother had wanted him to marry Trudy but he never showed much interest.

Now returned to the island as an old man, he befriends Call and Louise, and later Caroline. He is friendly and wise, at least to the children. Following Trudy’s stroke, he decides they should clean and fix up her house for her return, including disposing of the many stray cats that live on her property. He later marries Trudy, following Caroline’s suggestion, so that she has someone to care for her after her stroke and he has a home after the storm destroys his house. When Trudy dies shortly after, he gives her money to Caroline to attend school in Baltimore. While Louise feels this gesture is a betrayal of her, the Captain proves himself to be a loyal friend and someone who pushes Louise to take accountability for her own life.