Were there some characters about whom you felt strongly? Ones whom you sometimes liked, sometimes disliked? Why might a fiction writer want to avoid creating characters who are either "saints" or "sinners"?

Book Clubs In Our Midst by Nancy Jensen Discussion
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Were there some characters about whom you felt strongly? Ones whom you sometimes liked, sometimes disliked? Why might a fiction writer want to avoid creating characters who are either “saints” or “sinners”?

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Mr Beale is at the top of my list for the character I was most conflicted about. Since Iris had had so much trouble with men, he almost seemed to be too good to be true. He was especially helpful to Nina in finding Mr Griffin. But after he and Iris got married, I wondered if his true colors came out. He was chauvinistic and demanding. I didn’t like the way he pressured Hugh in signing up for the armed services. But then, in the end he got Iris to the train station when Nina returned.
I think the fiction writer makes the character more “real” when they are both “good and bad” since there are no perfect people in this world.

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I, too, was confused about the characterization of Mr. Beale. Was he or wasn’t he a good person? I’d like to believe that Iris influenced him. What purpose did this character serve to the story line? I wonder why Jensen created a character that yo-yo’ed. Perhaps so the reader believes people can change?

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I agree with @Joyce_Montague that it was more realistic that Mr. Beale was neither a good person nor a particularly bad one. It seems like most people are conflicted and inconsistent in real life.

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I also had conflicting views of Mr.Beale, was he truly interested in helping Nina or helping to satisfy himself:?

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Yep, Mr. Beale was problematic. Some of his views toward women, I understood as being part of the time. He did not want Iris to continue to work. I understood that as a statement of the 1940’s, not that I agreed but I did get it. Iris changed a lot to adapt to his views and desires, for example, she did not leave the house for errands until he had gone for the day.

Iris first tells us about how much Mr. Beale detested gay men in a conversation with Nina. Again, somewhat a viewpoint of the time, but I don’t like it.

I don’t think a lot of men in the 1940’s would marry a woman with two children that were so old. So, I do give him credit for that But yikes, not a favorite character!

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