Ironweed

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1983

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapter 7

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

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Character Analysis

Francis Phelan

As Ironweed’s protagonist, 58-year-old vagrant Francis Phelan faces a variety of internal doubts and struggles which drive the central conflict of the plot. Much of the tension and uncertainty of the novel arises from seemingly contradictory traits that Francis exemplifies. For instance, Francis is generous and friendly to almost everyone and quick to share a sandwich or a funny word (in his decidedly working-class speech). On the other hand, when threatened or insulted, he typically responds proudly and angrily, as his violent past indicates. Meanwhile, counterbalancing his quick temper is a reflective and thoughtful nature that holds sway in quiet moments—much of the text follows his deep and vivid trains of thought. Added to these contradictions is Francis’s love of freedom and motion and escape—all of which run counter to his deep-seated loyalty and love for his family and for the city of Albany. Impetuous and daring in moments of action, Francis also proves to be extremely cautious, avoiding, for instance, the threat of arrest at almost any cost.

The central action of the story plays out over a mere two days, so Francis doesn’t drastically change his nature on any of these points by the end of the book, though his decision not to keep attacking Little Red at the dormitory is a promising sign. He does, however, come to a greater understanding of himself as someone acting within a larger framework of influences, such as those taught to him by Emmett Daugherty, as well as primal urges towards sex and violence. This realization allows him to live with his guilt, provided he makes a resolution to fix what he can. He also gains increased awareness of his self-destructive habits, seemingly enabling him to resist the impulse to flee yet again from his family life in Albany.

Helen Archer

Helen Marie Archer is Francis’s girlfriend for the better part of a decade prior to her death. She comes from a higher socioeconomic class than Francis, which reflects both in her more formal speech and in her refined artistic taste and ability, including her singing ability. Her attraction to high culture does, at times, clash with the trappings of her transient status, as when she stands to sing at Oscar’s bar, covering her “tattered blouse and skirt” with a “black rag of a coat” (55). In this way, Helen constitutes a challenge to stereotypical notions of homeless persons as being culturally inept or out of touch.

Her relationship with Francis is marked both by sincere attachment as well as occasional bickering; while Francis complains about Helen’s perceived neediness, she laments his chronic drinking. Still, she is the closest thing to a family that Francis has during his vagrant years, and a significant portion of the plot revolves around his attempts to please and care for her. Only when she dies does Francis allow himself to devote his full attention to his actual family.

Though Helen, like Francis, lives with regrets, she, unlike him, seems reasonably satisfied with her life choices; instead, she attributes many of her sorrows to things beyond her control, whether it be the death of her father, the delayed discovery of his will, Francis’s drinking, or just “fate” that “kept [her] from the great heights that were [hers] by right of talent and education” (56). Her sorrow, then, is for a world governed too much by chance and mischance; her clinging to her Catholic faith, even as she takes it upon herself to define which sins really matter and which do not, demonstrates an emotional maturity on her part that Francis only begins to attain as the novel concludes.

Rudy Newton

Rudy is Francis’s friend and fellow vagrant, whom he first meets approximately two weeks before the novel opens. Agreeable and dimwitted, Rudy’s character fits the archetype of the wise fool—one whose words and actions seem laughable, even ridiculous, on the surface but provoke deep thought upon reflection. His interactions with Francis often include simple questions and outlandish statements that prove both funny and incisive, as when he offers to “send out invites” in response to Francis’s confession that he doesn’t want to die alone (16). Like Shakespearean fools, Rudy also has a tendency to make seemingly irrelevant comments and break into song, particularly as he and Francis go on one last binge together, when Rudy reveals, unprompted, that Isaac Newton was “born of two midwives” and that he discovered gravity in 1936 (the actual date is 1687) (210).

As is often the case, there is also a tragic side to Rudy’s character. There are hints that he has considered suicide in moments of desperation, and his interest in Old Shoes’s claim that he has a job, car, house, and wife suggests that Rudy may have some unfulfilled aspirations for a more conventional life. Rudy finally dies a tragic death at the hands of raiders, despite Francis’s heroic efforts to protect him. His childlike innocence makes him particularly pitiable to both readers and Francis, who tells Rudy that “you never done wrong” (201), just hours before Rudy’s death. Rudy becomes the latest martyr in a senseless war waged on the helpless by the ruthless.