Romantic

Character Role Analysis

Rachel Baffin, Julian Baffin

Rachel Baffin is the first love interest that crosses Bradley Pearson's path in The Black Prince, and initially, Bradley feels as though his love affair with Rachel could help him to become a better artist and a more practiced devotee of the "godhead" he worships. However, it isn't long before Rachel is supplanted by another lover—her own daughter, Julian Baffin.

Even though it seems likely that Bradley Pearson's love for Julian Baffin has more to do with his intellectualized and idealized notions of love than it does with the young woman herself, there's no denying that Julian is a present participant throughout at least some of Bradley's lovelorn grapplings with "the black Eros."