Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Quentin

The adult Quentin is a protagonist… if you count his remembering Nancy's plight fifteen years ago as his own journey.

He starts from not worrying about the racial divide in Jefferson, discounting his recollection of empathizing with Nancy apparently so as not to deal with his feelings about her ("It was the cold stove and all, when you think of a kitchen being warm and busy and cheerful" [1.30]), and trying to change the subject in his head with the digression about Mr. Lovelady.

But he comes around to finally acknowledging that his family abandoned Nancy when he includes in his narration his inadequate final line—"Who will do our washing now, Father" (6.9)—and his siblings' meaningless fighting. Quentin as a narrator is arguably a protagonist all of his own.

Nancy

Nancy tries to secure safety for herself, even though she believes she is doomed. She stays in the white family's home on a pallet in the kitchen, and then asks to stay in the children's bedroom when she wants more safety. That idea is too much for the mother, so Nancy convinces the children to come back with her to her house, as if they can protect her.

Her plan to protect herself may not make sense, and she is left abandoned in the end, but we feel sympathy for her and her desperate attempts to keep herself safe from Jesus.