Until They Bring The Streetcars Back

Gretchen Lutterman is a fellow student in Cal’s study hall period. She is the archetypal outcast, and until the incident at the beginning of the novel, Cal hadn’t truly noticed her. She has bad style and is portrayed as being unattractive. People make fun of her, calling her “Gretch the Wretch.” Cal creates a negative image of her when he says:

[I]t was like I’d never laid eyes on her. I guess that wasn’t hard to figure with the plain long dresses she wore and no lipstick or anything like that, and her stringy hair just hung there, and worst of all black socks and those huge brown oxfords that looked like gunboats on her skinny legs. She was skinny all over and she never smiled, so I can see why I never noticed her, like she was a zombie or something (2-3).

As Gretchen and Cal bond, however, the reader learns why Gretchen looks the way she does. Her dad sexually abuses her, and he polices what she wears and how she looks. Gretchen explains, “I have to wear ugly clothes. He says if I fix my hair or wear makeup, I’m helping the Devil” (53). Gretchen’s father, Otto Lutterman, is simultaneously abusive and religious, holding strict conservative beliefs that further limit Gretchen in her everyday life outside of the home. Gretchen doesn’t know how to escape her abusive circumstances, so she turns to Cal for help.

Gretchen continually worries about “going crazy,” a reference to how she both fears emotionally breaking and the consequences of betraying Otto. Helga, her sister, was hospitalized and framed for being mentally unstable when she tried to escape. This deters Gretchen from trying to leave or telling someone about her situation. She also believes Otto might kill her if she tries to escape.

To protect herself emotionally, Gretchen originally tells Cal that Little Jacob, her biological son and the result of her father’s incestuous sexual abuse, was her sister, Helga’s baby. It is later revealed that she gave birth to Little Jacob at home and her father forced her to drown the baby immediately after birth. Gretchen’s mother lives at home with Gretchen and Otto, but she is unresponsive when Gretchen attempts to confide in her. She was present for the drowning of the baby, and it is implied she endures abuse as well.

Gretchen’s trauma compels the narrative. The story hinges on her and Cal’s attempt to save her. As Otto receives a life sentence, Gretchen gets a happy ending. Sandy spots Gretchen and her pink gown at prom and declares, “I can’t believe that’s Gretchen Luttermann” (249). Gretchen and Cal are never romantic with one another, and in the end, Steve declares his interest in pursuing Gretchen.

Otto Luttermann, Gretchen’s father, is the antagonist of the novel. He sexually abuses Gretchen and makes her drown their baby in the bathtub. He also polices what Gretchen can wear and monitors all of her free time outside of school, even receiving her paychecks when she works and ensuring she never speaks to boys or makes close friends. He put his other daughter, Helga, in a psychiatric hospital, and he commands silence from his wife, Ruth. Bluntly summing up Otto’s irredeemable character, Sergeant Riley says, “[T]his psycho is a brutal bastard that should be castrated, but he’s also a religious nut” (239). Otto uses religion as an excuse to torture Gretchen, and Otto fools Pastor Ostrum into thinking that he’s the head of “a solid Christian family” (145). Otto shows Cal his predatory nature when he runs after Cal to retrieve Little Jacob and then tries to kill Cal in the alley.

Otto works at the post office, and Cal describes him as “a normal looking guy,” (96). When the cops come to Otto’s home after Cal pulls off his plan, Otto, thinking Gretchen told, loses his temper and stabs a cop. At court, Otto lacks the discipline to stay composed, and he attacks Cal after Ruth declares the truth. The flaw that results in Otto’s demise is his reactivity. Cal is able to remain collected and calculated, manipulating the world around him as he works to free Gretchen. Otto, however manipulative, has violent outbursts that reveal his true nature.

Horace Gant is Cal and Peggy’s dad, and he’s Lurine’s husband. Peggy and Lurine want to call the Humane Society for McCluskey’s dog, but Horace declares, “It’s none of our business” (15). Cal tries to talk to Horace about the traumas and dangers he’s confronting, but Horace dismisses him, saying, “[L]et’s not hear anymore talk about trouble with school” (174).

Horace’s dad prefers to complain, with Cal quipping, “[M]y dad with the streetcars, the atom bomb and the Communists, everything” (60). At times, streetcars seem like the sole recipient of Horace’s compassion. He cares deeply about their demise because they’re central to his identity. Horace has worked for the Twin Cities Rapid Transit Company for 29 years, and he’s driven the Grand-Mississippi line for 10 years. When Cal sees Horace in his streetcar, he notices “how happy and proud he looked” (29).

Horace, however, displays his complexity when it is revealed that he knows Peggy is bringing food to the bunny, and he doesn’t stop her. While he tells Lurine and Peggy not to bother about the dog, he calls the Humane Society about the dog. He also gives Cal a box of Nut Goodies for Christmas, hinting that he knows something is up between Cal and Gretchen.

Horace dies of a heart attack after the company fires him for creating a chaotic traffic jam with a motorist. Cal thinks he killed his dad when he went to jail. His mom thinks the company killed him, reinforcing the link between Horace’s character and streetcars. As the streetcars depart, Horace must go with them.

Peggy is Cal’s 12-year-old sister. She sneaks out to attend Cal’s last regular season basketball game and spends New Year’s Eve with him. She also shares many of Cal’s traits. She shows compassion by bringing food to the rabbit and the dog. When she brings food for the rabbit one night, she inadvertently stops Otto’s assault on Cal and saves his life. Thus, Cal can save Gretchen because Peggy saved Cal.

Lola Muldoon is Cal’s blonde-haired, blue-eyed romantic interest. He’s deeply in love with her, and after he first laid eyes on her, he felt as if he’d “been run over by a truck” (40). Compounding Cal’s distress, Lola has a boyfriend, Tom. A reliable friend, Cal agrees to go on dates with Lola so she and Tom can still see each other once Tom’s parents try to split them up.

Lola and Tom eventually break up, and Lola and Cal become a couple. With Lola, West highlights the juxtaposition between Cal’s relatively normal teen life and his uncommon bond with Gretchen. Cal describes the contrast as “from the world of the crazy to the world of bliss in three seconds” (100).

Aside from her relationship with Cal, part of Lola’s characterization involves the way she is deeply affected by her parents’ divorce. Her mom doesn’t want her to see her dad. However, Lola wants to see her dad, and she wants him to come watch her cheer.

Helga is Gretchen’s sister. She’s in a psychiatric hospital, and when Gretchen and Cal visit her, she stares into space and doesn’t speak. Gretchen says Otto “fixed her so she could never tell again” (199). Initially, Gretchen tells Cal that Little Jacob is Helga’s baby, but then she tells Cal the truth.

Before the psychiatric hospital, Helga battled mental health issues. One day in school, she started running the chalk across the blackboard. When the teacher came back with the principal, Helga was in the teacher’s chair, “staring at her hands like a zombie” (47). Gretchen doesn’t want to “go crazy” like her sister, a recurring fear Gretchen expresses throughout the novel. When Gretchen and Cal visit Helga in the hospital and inform her that Otto has been incarcerated, Helga remains distressed, unable to return to her former self because of the years of trauma and abuse. She remains hospitalized at the story’s end.

Steve is one of Cal’s best friends, and he introduces two traumas into the story. He got polio in the sixth grade, causing his right leg to be smaller and skinnier. Before that, his little brother died, and his parents increased the trauma by blaming the death on Steve.

The only sport Steve can play is hockey. He’s the goalie, but he feels as though the coach pities him, so he quits the team. Steve considers death by suicide, but he is glad when his friends save him.

Sandy is one of Cal’s best friends, and she demonstrates their closeness by calling him “Bean.” In third grade, Sandy helps unfreeze Cal’s tongue from a fence by pouring hot bean soup on it. More recently, Sandy helps Cal and Gretchen spend a “fun” day in Minneapolis by forging passes for them. Sandy experiences trauma because her birth parents put her up for adoption. She identifies similarities in strangers and constantly wonders if they are her relatives, desperately looking for connections that are more than likely not there.

Lurine is Cal and Peggy’s mom, and she’s Horace’s wife. Lurine survived the Great Depression and she’s frugal. Sometimes, she serves barely edible leftovers for dinner, and she’s displeased that Peggy is taking good food and giving it to the rabbit and the dog. Lurine tries to make everyone happy, but she often feels “hoodooed” or cursed. Through Lurine, the reader gains insight into Horace. Lurine explains how World War I traumatized her husband, and she tells Cal the reason she suspects Horace never went to his games was because—at least in part—he was jealous.

Ruth Lutterman is Gretchen and Helga’s mom, and she’s Otto’s wife. For much of the story, Ruth enables Otto’s abuse. When her daughters try to tell on Otto, she calls them liars and vouches for Otto’s innocence. She knows what’s occurring, as she delivers Gretchen’s baby. In court, Otto’s lawyer badgers Cal and triggers Ruth to tell the truth. When she speaks in Chapter 44, the reader learns her name for the first time. It’s as if West refuses to give her a specific identity until she finds the power to assert her agency and speak out against her husband.