wound to his eye. When Culafroy confesses to Solange that he prefers Alberto to her, she responds, “You like him?” When Mimosa II tells Divine that she finds Our Lady of the Flowers attractive, Divine responds, “She pleases you?” (referring to Our Lady of the Flowers in the feminine). These reflexive incidents tie Alberto, Culafroy/Divine, and Our Lady of the Flowers into a unit in ways that are amplified by the concert of their deaths: In very short order, and in lyrical continuity, the narrator offers accounts of the death of Alberto (from the wound received in what appears to have been a quarrel over a girl), Our Lady of the Flowers (under the guillotine), and Divine (from tuberculosis).

Mimosa II

Mimosa II, a bitchy queen who is Roger’s “woman.” In actuality, “she” is Genet’s fellow inmate René Hirsch.

Solange

Solange (soh-LAHNZH), a country girl attracted to Louis Culafroy, who rejects her, when he realizes that he is homosexual, in favor of Alberto.

Gabriel Archangel

Gabriel Archangel, a persona given to a downed German pilot named Weidmann, whose picture adorned a wall of Genet’s cell.

Lady-Apple

Lady-Apple, or Pomme d’Api (puhm dah-PEE), an inmate who, in actuality, was Eugène Marceau.

First Communion

First Communion, an inmate who, in actuality, was Antoine Berthollet.

Mimosa I

Mimosa I, an inmate who, like Lady-Apple and First Communion, is among the numerous homosexuals mentioned by sobriquet in the story.

Ernestine

Ernestine, the mother of Louis Culafroy. She corresponds in many respects to Genet’s real mother, Gabrielle.

All the characters in Our Lady of the Flowers are seen through the perspective of the narrator, who is Genet himself or a version of himself. Perspective is not a strong enough term, for the narrator states that his characters are his own fantasies, which he develops for his own onanistic purposes. The fractured narrative which results is interwoven with the narrator’s own prison experiences, past and present. All the other major characters, then, are primarily versions of himself.

This fact is especially true of the book’s central figure, Divine. From the unhappy childhood and borderline murderous mother to the vagabond adolescence, the background for Divine’s character is artfully modeled on Genet’s own. Divine’s true uniqueness, on the other hand, lies in her ability to transform reality by living a willed fantasy. Her transformation into a woman is at every moment subject to external abuse and pressure from a hostile society. Nevertheless, she is somehow able to transcend these impossibilities and bring not only a sort of poetry into her world but also a kind of love.

Darling is the male fantasy counterpart to Divine—that is, he is the desired male figure that the narrator creates to be Divine’s lover so the narrator can enjoy him vicariously. Darling’s key attributes are all external: his physique, his manner of smoking a cigarette, even his bodily functions. He has little interior development and little personality other than a sovereign disdain for the morality of normal society. This disdain and the actions it allows him to perform contribute to the heroic aspect which his physical beauty suggests.

Our Lady is the most enigmatic character in the book. He is so young that he seems to undertake the most serious actions with a sublime lack of reflection. In fact, that combination of murderous action with a blank interior state accounts for what the narrator terms his glory. Our Lady is the type in the book for other killers known by the narrator in prison. His sublime indifference and blind courage are part of the mystery of the assassin that Genet wishes to explore in the book.

The rest of the characters in the book serve primarily to give depth to the past and inner experience of Divine. From her childhood as Lou Culafroy, these include her mother, Ernestine, who will be truly happy only when Lou is dead; Alberto, the snake catcher, who first shows Lou the physical aspect of love; and the young Solange, Lou’s only experience with a woman. Seck Gorgui, the black pimp, and Gabriel, a young French soldier, are Divine’s other important lovers. Mimosa is her primary rival and, with the other queens, serves to establish the atmosphere and milieu in which Divine lives.