Pet

Redemption is Jam’s best friend. Jam describes Redemption as “threaded with nothing but gentleness” (51). He is a 15-year-old African American boy who loves his family, especially his younger brother Moss. Like Jam, Redemption’s name indicates his moral character. “Redemption” means to be saved, or to be rescued from evil, and the character of Redemption represents a new hope for the people of Lucille after the monster has been discovered. Specifically, Redemption’s name foreshadows his role in saving Moss from Hibiscus and shaking his parents from their complacency. Redemption loves fighting, but he does not fight out of a love of violence, rather, “Redemption fought for the beauty of what his body could do, for the frailty of being human, the power and vulnerability tangled up in being flesh” (51). Through Redemption’s relationship to fighting, Emezi explores how elements of the contemporary world might be reconfigured in a utopian version of society, highlighting how community perspective alters individual perception.

As the novel progresses, however, Redemption’s relationship to violence changes. After discovering the abuse, Redemption actively wishes to hurt and kill Hibiscus, his former fighting teacher, and punches and fights with Hibiscus in their confrontation. What was a celebration of the human body and spirit becomes perverted into a desire to do harm by Redemption’s rage over Hibiscus hurting Moss. Through this turn, Emezi explores how violence done by one community member creates more and more opportunities for violence in others. Despite this, the core of Redemption’s character remains the same, and he is convinced of the possibility of growth and healing. In describing his love of fighting to Jam, Redemption says, “We’re alive because we can be hurt; we’re alive because we can heal. I think it’s beautiful” (52). Redemption and Jam represent the future for Lucille; their capacity for empathy and ferocity make them capable of safeguarding the most vulnerable people in society.

Jam’s parents, Bitter and Aloe, are a supportive unit, a team that loves their daughter unconditionally. Rather than the complacency that affects the other adults of Lucille, Bitter and Aloe’s refusal to acknowledge the monster in Lucille comes from their fear for their daughter’s safety.

Bitter, Jam’s mother, is a studio artist who paints Pet into the canvas, from which it is freed by Jam. In the past, Bitter has previously brought figures to life out of her art. Bitter was intimately involved in the revolution in Lucille and is named because of the “bitter” circumstances of her birth, which is described as “the result of a monster’s monstering” (13), implying sexual violence. Because of her background, Bitter is profoundly aware that monsters can look like anything. Just like Ube, Bitter is honest with Jam talking with her about difficult topics like the revolution and monsters.

Aloe, Jam’s father, is a paramedic. Aloe’s name reflects the protectiveness of his character; Aloe is a plant that can be used to treat scrapes and burns. With this name, Emezi emphasizes how Aloe “[likes] the adrenaline of saving people” (20). Aloe takes his responsibility as Jam’s father incredibly seriously. He wants to protect her, and he fears how she would have been treated in the world before the revolution. This fear motivates his willful ignorance about the monsters in Lucille; Jam thinks, “He was radiating surety, wanting her to feel protected. Her father held more fear than her mother, Jam had always known this” (22). Aloe’s characterization stays steady throughout the entirety of the novel. Though his perspective changes about the existence of monsters, Aloe is always dedicated to ensuring his family’s safety and carries Jam home after the confrontation with Hibiscus with “his heart pointed toward their house, toward home. He was single-minded, cutting through the air before him” (160).

Uncle Hibiscus is the monster in Lucille and the primary antagonist of the novel, despite his reputation as a prominent angel of the revolution. Emezi describes him as “a tall man with muscles like jerky, tough and lean, faster than a snakestrike, and most of all, one of the angels of Lucille” (52). Hibiscus is married to Glass and does not have any children. At the beginning of the novel, Jam considers Hibiscus like family, because “Hibiscus had learned sign language along with Redemption way back when Jam was little, so they could both talk to her […]” (75). Hibiscus has done both kind and monstrous things. Emphasizing Emezi’s portrayal of the relationship between ignorance and innocence, Hibiscus’s inability to admit to needing help directly results in his abuse of Moss. As long as Hibiscus keeps his evil a secret, he believes he can deny the harm that he is doing to others and maintain the perception of his innocence in the community. He eventually admits to Redemption, “I need help, my boy. I tried to fight them for so long […] for so very long. But they were powerful, they took over me […]” (154). Through this admission, Emezi also highlights the role of relationships in personal healing. By hiding his wrongdoing from the community, Hibiscus also cuts himself of from community care.

Emezi also uses the character of Hibiscus to explore the dangers of labelling people and things according to simple binaries of good and evil, or angel and monster. Hibiscus’s belief that he is an angel results in his steadfast refusal to see himself as a monster. This is a form of oversight that is symbolized by “[…] the burned, boiling holes where Hibiscus’s eyes used to be” when he looks upon Pet’s true face (159). Hibiscus becomes a warning to Lucille, a testament to how the community has failed to acknowledge that people are neither wholly good nor wholly evil, and that a person’s moral nature is not a constant. Glass, Hibiscus’s wife, who is aware of his abuse of Moss, is also portrayed as a monster for hiding and covering for Hibiscus’s monstrosity. At the end of the novel, both Glass and Hibiscus are taken for rehabilitation, emphasizing Emezi’s insistence on restorative over punitive justice.

Malachite, Beloved, and Whisper are the polyamorous parents of Redemption and Moss. None of the parents believe Redemption when he tries to tell them about Hibiscus abusing Moss, echoing how Bitter and Aloe do not believe Jam when she tells them that there is a monster in Lucille. These three adults function as stand-ins for the wider community of Lucille in the novel, and further emphasize the diverse family structures which flourish in post-revolution Lucille. Despite the tragedy occurring in the family, Emezi is careful to portray the polyamorous household as one based in love and mutual respect, emphasized by the acceptance and comfort Jam feels there. That the child abuse in the novel takes place within a polyamorous household is presented as coincidence.

Malachite is Redemption and Moss’s mother, and she loves her children deeply. Malachite’s anger at herself for not seeing the truth is clear at the end of the novel. She is also furious at Glass, her sister, for concealing the truth from her. Malachite’s refusal to see the monster within her community hurts those she holds most dear.

Beloved is Redemption and Moss’s father, and he is also an artist. At the end of the novel, during the hearing, Moss’s safety has become his top priority. When Malachite tries to attack Glass at the trial, “Beloved [holds] Moss to his chest, shielding the boy’s ears and head with his large hands” (162). After realizing that Lucille is not free of monsters, Beloved’s top priority becomes protecting his children, even and especially from further violence within the family.

Whisper is Redemption’s third parent. Whispers notes that “Moss made a high-pitched whine and twisted away from them, darting out of the kitchen” (87), when Whisper tried to touch him, yet still refuses to believe Redemption about the abuse. At the end of the novel, Whisper holds Malachite back when she tries to lunge for her sister. The three parents function as a unit, all dedicated to getting justice and protecting their sons.