Guide Mentor

Character Role Analysis

Jude Scanlon

Okay, now you're probably really confused. Why is Hannah the antagonist and not Taylor's guide? Answer: Hannah kind of disappears for a huge chunk of the book. We tend to forget that because she's present in Taylor's memories, as well as the excerpts of her manuscript, but Hannah can't exactly be the guide/mentor figure if she's absent for the majority of the action.

What makes this role go to Jude is that he's not only present for all major action in the book, but tends to have a habit of showing up when Taylor's in crisis. When Taylor finds the cat in the tree early in the book and he tries to attack her, she nearly falls off the branch and discovers Jude "Standing under the tree, holding the cat" (9.4). When she drowns the cat in the river and passes out, Jude is the one who brings her back to the dorms (12.141). See what we mean?

Most significantly, Jude is the one who brought Taylor back to the school after she ran away three years ago to find her mother. "I remember the Brigadier," Taylor tells us. "I remember the look on his face when he pulled up […] and walked toward us in that measured way he has" (9.14). He gives a repeat performance of this same action at the end of the book, when he brings Jonah and Taylor back to Jellicoe School after he meets them at the hospice. From a distance, even before Taylor was aware of it, Jude was always there watching over her.