The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Ruth is the beautiful, Born-Again Christian sister of Cameron’s late mother. After Cameron’s mother dies, Ruth quits her job as a flight attendant, sells her condo in Florida, and moves to Miles City to care for Cameron. Ruth’s controlling nature and overzealous religious beliefs spark a rising tension between Cameron and Ruth that comes to the surface when Ruth learns of Cameron’s affair with Coley. Yet, despite her domineering ways, Danforth does not characterize Ruth as cruel or evil; rather, Ruth is well meaning, albeit grossly misguided. Ruth serves as a foil to Cameron’s ultimate rejection of stringent religious rhetoric.

Irene is Cameron’s childhood best friend and first kiss. Cameron and Irene display a longstanding competitiveness that turns to erotic desire once they get closer to adolescence. What begins as a dare for Cameron to kiss Irene becomes a delicious, habitual secret, until the night Cameron’s parents perish in a car accident. Cameron links the crash to her clandestine homosexual activity. Irene remains loyal to Cameron throughout the death of Cameron’s parents and Cameron’s consequential distancing from her. She calls constantly and even sends her a letter. However, the girls eventually grow apart. After her parents strike it rich for unearthing dinosaur bones on their property, Irene begins attending an expensive East Coast boarding school. Cameron only sees her once more. 

Cameron meets Lindsey during a middle school swim meet. Although Lindsey lives in Seattle, she spends summers with her father in Montana. Lindsey is the first person who encourages Cameron to embrace her lesbianism. Well-versed in everything counterculture, Lindsey lays the groundwork for Cameron’s physical and cultural education in same-sex attraction: Lindsey is the second girl Cameron kisses, and she sends her music and film suggestions that center on lesbian relationships. Lindsey serves as a reassuring reminder to Cameron that life outside of Miles City exists. Cameron and Lindsey maintain a steady correspondence up until Ruth sends Cameron to God’s Promise. 

Beautiful Coley Taylor hails from a well-respected rancher family from just outside of Miles City. Cameron meets Coley at a youth group meeting at Ruth’s church, Gates of Praise. Coley and Cameron quickly form a friendship that develops into a secret romance. Coley’s All-American veneer leaves people unsuspecting of her lesbian relationship with Cameron. Coley expresses deep shame at their affair, claiming that same-sex relationships are wrong in the eyes of God. She betrays Cameron by telling her family that Cameron pressured her into the sinful homosexual acts Cameron learned from Lindsey. After Ruth ships Cameron off to God’s Promise, Coley sends Cameron a letter reiterating her anger towards Cameron for manipulating her into lesbianism.

Rick is a handsome and charismatic reverend in his 30s whom Cameron first meets when he visits her youth group to talk to them about the school he runs, God’s Promise. Rick is open about his own same-sex tendencies, which he claims he has now curbed due to the God’s Promise teachings. The book portrays Rick as thoughtful, kind towards students, and far less rigid in his God’s Promise teachings than his aunt Lydia, who co-runs the school with him. 

Lydia, an older British woman who wears her silver hair in a tightly pulled back ponytail, serves as the psychologist and assistant director of God’s Promise. Cameron learns from Jane that Lydia is Rick’s aunt and the main funder of God’s Promise. Lydia’s brusque, strict manner leaves her unpopular and feared among the God’s Promise students. Her life’s mission is to compel students to understand that their homosexual desire results from family or personal trauma. 

Jane Fonda is the first person that Cameron meets at God’s Promise. Jane’s mother and two fathers named her, and other residents at the remote commune contributed to raising her. She lost one of her legs in a car accident that left her mentor Pat, Jane’s model for lesbian life, dead. The accident prompted Jane’s mother to turn to religious fanaticism, seeing the car crash as confirmation from God that homosexuality is sinful. She then sent Jane to promise. Due to her homesteading background, Jane becomes the resident marijuana dealer at God’s Promise, growing the plant on a nearby trail and hiding marijuana in her artificial leg. 

Jane’s friendship models independence for Cameron and contributes to Cameron’s personal development. Jane immediately throws Coley’s accusatory letter down the garbage chute after reading it, encouraging her to remember Coley the way she wants to. Later in the book, she supports Cameron’s final farewell to her parents at Quake Lake.

Cameron befriends Adam Red Eagle, a glossy-haired teen with long eyelashes, at God’s Promise. The pair begin trail running together. Cameron’s attraction to Adam surprises her. The two have a brief fling and remain close friends. Although Adam’s mother views Adam’s fluid sexuality as a sign of spiritual power, his newly religious father sends him to God’s Promise to “correct” his sinful inclinations. Adam, Cameron, and Jane form a solid friendship throughout their time at God’s Promise and into their escape from the school.