Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Dorcas

Boo, hiss, Dorcas. It seems like everyone is peeved with Dorcas for the majority of the novel. She's a wayward niece for Alice and she's a manipulative best friend to Felice, plus she sleeps with Joe (which Violet doesn't like much) and then she dumps him (which Joe doesn't like much). Dang, Dorcas—way to rain on everyone's parade.

By the end of the novel, though, everyone has found it in their hearts to make peace with Dorcas's memory. Alice just sort of shrugs and moves to Massachusetts; Felice thinks that Dorcas is a crazy, mixed-up kid, but she's okay with her holding on to her ring; and Violet and Joe (in a weird turn of events) unite in their love for Dorcas's memory and rekindle their own love. So Dorcas isn't evil—but she's still the reason for a ton of strife in everyone's life.