Character Analysis
Patience by Any Other Name…
Patience is the star of the show in the first two chapters of the book, first narrowly surviving a tornado and then giving birth next to a fire in the middle of her workday. She doesn't stay at center stage past this, though, because once Abyssinia's born, Marked by Fire is totally her show.
That doesn't mean Patience fades away completely, though. Instead, she lives up to her name in key moments, particularly when Abby's raped by Brother Jacobs:
Every day one of them would take up the sentry of mercy, would stand gazing gown with abundant compassion and assurance at the bewildered child.
When looking, each woman imagined a miracle. Mother Barker imagined the flower ceremonies of spring. Patience imagined the sparkle in a bird's throat. Mother Barker saw a fierce abiding affection tempered by the fire flickering from the sacred shrine of her heart. Patience meditated on energy from the indelible spirit stored beneath the rich colors of her skin and hair.
It was a time for healing. A double ritual. A duet of waiting. (9.56-58)
Working with Mother Barker, Patience stands vigil over her daughter day after day, holding fast to her belief in Abby's ability to recover and meditating on this prospect over Abby's broken body. It is an effort rooted in deep and unfaltering love, which is all Patience ever shows her daughter.
Soul Connection
Patience isn't simply patient and loving, though—she also has killer instincts. Time and again she just knows when something's gone wrong for Abby. She goes looking for her at Brother Jacobs's house, and she breaks out in chills at the Cherokee Strip Day parade when Trembling Sally fills Abby's room with wasps:
A moving float with a blond queen and her attendants inexplicably sent shivers down Patience's spine, even though it was a warm summer evening. More floats passed, but she could not shake the dark foreboding. She began to run, disrupting the steps of the marching band whose path she crossed. Fear whipped at her heels as she ran down the empty streets toward home. (11.7)
Those are some serious maternal instincts, right? Bigger picture, Patience is an excellent representative of women's intuition, which is something that courses through this novel. It is always women who know what's up in this book, tapping into some sort of primal truth, and for her part, Patience never misses a memo.