Charitty Royal

Charity Royall displays both self indulgence and self control. Judge Royall represented law and structure in her life. He was the one sure thing that she had. He was her only monetary means of survival and without him she would not be were she is or would not have a place to stay, food to eat, or clothes to wear. Then on the other hand there was Lucius Harney, who represented everything else in her life. Excitement, adventure, fun, and finally the ability to fulfill and longtime dream of being with a sophisticated person some one that was not from North Dormer the town that she despised so much.

Judge Royall was the only father figure she ever had. He made a promise to her jail bound father to give Charity a better life. He drove all night to find Charity up in the mountain; she knows that and because of that she feels some what compelled to stay with him so that he is not lonely. "Charity 'felt softness in her heart' in knowing that he drove all night to fetch her from the mountain (266)". She knows that she runs his household and that he cannot be with out her because all in all she is the only person that he has.

In spite of everything...Lawyer Royall ruled in North Dormer; and Charity ruled in Lawyer Royall's house. She had never put it to herself in those terms; but she had known her power, knew what it was made of and hated it. (p. 146)

The same though goes for her. He is the only one that she has. When he was going to send her to boarding school he decides not to send her.

After he decides not to send her away at all, Charity, who is always "sick of North Dormer" (22) is disappointed but finally understand his decision: "He and she, face to face in that sad house, had sounded the depths of isolation; and though she felt no particular affection for him, and not the slightest gratitude, she pitted him because she was conscious that he was superior to the people about him and that she was the only being between him and solitude. (P.5)

This tells the reader that although he "rescued" her from the mountain that is not why she feels compelled to stay with him. She knows that because she is there physically (she really is not there emotionally) he does not fell alone in the world. He has at least one sole in the world still with him and I believe that this is why she stays with him and understands a different aspect of why she is in his life.

Then there is Lucius Harney. He is the city guy who has entered the town and caught her attention at the library.

Confusedly, the young man in the library had made her feel for the first time what might be the sweetness of dependence (23). (p.146)

She was always intrigued by people from big cities. She always daydreamed about the time she went to Nettleton on the fieldtrip. Although Nettleton was not a big city that was the only city that she knew, and the fact that Lucius Harney came from Boston fascinated her very much. She always felt that people that lived in the city were more sophisticated and better educated. He was her dream guy in a nut shell. She indulged her self in everything he stood for. She felt that by being with him she was as sophisticated and well rounded as he was. Being with him gave him an heir that she never thought she could get. Charity worked at the library and made some money of her own but that did not symbolized the independence that she got from being with Harney. She felt that by being with him she could once and for all leave North Dormer.

With Harney she could finally discover her sexuality. "Charity is about to 'break into a flower' or 'break into blossom' herself." (p.2). She felt a feeling aroused in her that she had never felt before. He made her feel like a women no longer a girl. In some ways, though, I feel that he used her to satisfy his sexual desire, that at no point in their relationship did he ever want to become more than lovers. She could not see this though because she was completely overwhelmed buy the high that she felt when she was with him. "Their sexual passion eventually spans the chasm of her ignorance. He temporarily transports her "away into a new world" of communication and connection (165). (p.287).

But everybody knew that "going with a city fellow" was a different and less straightforward affair: almost every village could show a victim of the perilous venture.

It was not till much later in the story that she finally realizes that she was never meant to be more than just that with Harney and realized what she really was to him. He though meant much more to her he meant the first time that she ever felt someone truly cared for her. When he came, that was the first time that someone paid close attention to her feelings