Character Analysis
An Honest Man
At heart, Valerian is a guy who just wants to be left alone to do his own thing. He loves his son Michael, but is more than willing to leave the kid alone if it means letting the boy stand on his own two feet. Valerian thinks of himself as a generous, charitable guy. He's proud of the fact that, in his mind, "His claims to decency were human: he had never cheated anybody" (2.25).
He's also proud of the fact that he never became obsessed with his work like his uncles did. Valerian is not the kind of person who can't handle free time. In fact, the guy fought to retire at a decent age so he could enjoy as much free time as he could at the end of his life: "[He] had been pushed into a presidency but had to fight for his retirement" (2.12).
In other words, Valerian thinks of himself as a decent, hardworking man. And in some cases, he definitely is. He put the young Jade through a very expensive university and he has always given steady employment to Jade's aunt Ondine and uncle Sydney. But as we find out in this novel, this image of himself doesn't match up with the way that other people see Valerian. And as we find out more and more about other characters' perspectives, we begin to realize that Valerian is actually…
Kind of a Jerk
While he is generous in some ways, Valerian can also be totally unfair. He also never really takes a good hard look at himself in the mirror. For example, he's never willing to admit that his privilege is a matter of luck rather than talent or hard work. He just inherited a candy factory one day: he didn't create anything. He's blind to how fortunate he is, and how much more he could give to those less fortunate.
This blindness is brought to a head in his argument with his servants at Christmas dinner. Valerian thinks he is being very generous by inviting Sydney and Ondine to sit at the table with him. But he doesn't realize how disrespectful he's been by allowing an intruder (Son) to sleep in his guest suite, an honor he has never given any of his servants.
Valerian just acts on sudden whims, like when he fires Yardman and Thérèse for stealing some of his apples. Son spent an entire week stealing stuff from him, but Valerian made him into a guest of honor because that's what suited his humor in the moment. When his servants call him out on being a jerk, though, Valerian flies off the handle and tries to fire them both.
But as always, Morrison asks us to have sympathy for her characters. In Valerian's case, she tries to create sympathy for the guy by helping us understand why he is the way he is. And in the end, a lot of it boils down to his role as a daddy.
Disappointed Father
Deep down, Valerian is disappointed in how his son, Michael, has turned out. Valerian always hoped that Michael would be his sole heir and would take over the family candy factory, but Michael grew up to be a hardcore liberal who wants nothing to do with Valerian's money. As we find out, Valerian loves his son to death: "I love him. Just like I loved the boy under the sink, humming. That beautiful boy. With a smile like… like Sunday" (3.163). But he also knows that he and his son will never be pals, or even especially close.
As the narrator tells us, the distance Michael put between himself and his family is what first led Valerian to build his Caribbean palace and to hang out in his greenhouse all the time: "When he knew for certain that Michael would always be a stranger to him, he built the greenhouse as a place of controlled ever-flowering life to greet death in" (2.25). Later, Valerian is totally crushed when he finds out that his wife Margaret abused Michael when he was just an infant. Valerian's a guy who thrives on controlling everything around him. But when he realizes that he has been in the dark about his wife abusing his son, Valerian sinks into a depression that he never really recovers from. For him, this book definitely has a really sad ending.
Timeline