Virginia Hull Babcock (Ginny) Bliss

Virginia Hull Babcock (Ginny) Bliss, the protagonist and narrator of half the novel. The daughter of a plant manager, she is a popular high school girl in Hullsport, Tennessee; she is a cheerleader and girlfriend of the star athlete, with whom she has hilarious introductory sexual experiences. When she loses her virginity, however, it is to one of the tough guys, an outcast. At her father’s insistence, she reluctantly enters a college in Massachusetts (Wellesley, thinly disguised as Worthley), where she comes under the influence of Miss Head, a professor of philosophy, and is introduced to the life of the mind and of artistic appreciation. During her second year, she meets Edna (Eddie) Holzer, who ridicules what Ginny has learned from Miss Head and who introduces her to lesbian sexuality. They leave college to set up an apartment in a Boston slum. They participate in anti-Vietnam War activities before moving to Stark’s Bog, Vermont. Eventually, they live in an all-female commune with three other women, where they are harassed by the local young men, whose diversions are hunting and snowmobiling. After Eddie dies in a violent accident, Ginny marries Ira Bliss, the leader of the young men. They have a daughter, Wendy, but the marriage is not a success despite Ginny’s efforts to act the role of a loving housewife and mother. When Hawk shows up, he convinces Ginny to participate in sexual exercises supposed to increase her spiritual awareness. They are discovered in a compromising position by Ira, who throws out Ginny. After a brief interlude in Montreal, Ginny is called back to Hullsport, where her mother is very ill. After her mother’s death, she tries to commit suicide but fails; she decides to go on living, although she has no plans and no prospects.

Wesley Marshall Babcock IV

Wesley Marshall Babcock IV, called The Major, Ginny’s father, a tough man who tries unsuccessfully to discipline Ginny and later to force her into a conventional lifestyle. The plant he manages manufactures explosives to be used in the Vietnam War.

Mother

Mother, Ginny’s mother, a pallid woman who is oversolicitous of her husband and children. When she becomes ill with a rare blood disease, she blames her children for deserting her, even though Ginny returns to be with her. Her slow death and Ginny’s relationship with her are the subject of the third-person narrative that alternates with Ginny’s narration. The mother has always had an obsession with death: Her chief amusement when Ginny was young was to revise her obituary, which she did frequently. Despite the efforts of the medical profession, she dies of the blood disease.

Joe Bob Sparks

Joe Bob Sparks, a high school athlete and Ginny’s first boyfriend, later a high school coach in Hullsport.

Clem Cloyd

Clem Cloyd, a partially crippled motorcycle rider who is Ginny’s first lover. As an adult, he becomes a preacher in a small nondenominational church and holds a healing service for Ginny’s mother.

Miss Head

Miss Head, a philosophy professor at Worthley College, cellist, and lover of beautiful things. She is Ginny’s adviser and teacher. A lonely woman who plays the cello for amusement, always by herself, she tries to indoctrinate Ginny in the life of the mind, but the aridity of her own life drives Ginny away.

Edna (Eddie) Holzer

Edna (Eddie) Holzer, an illegitimate child of poor parents. She is a radical feminist, antiwar protester, and Ginny’s lesbian lover. She induces Ginny to leave college and to give away most of the income Ginny receives from stock in her father’s company. The women’s relationship...