More so than any other character in the novel, Elizabeth represents love. Her children feel free to speak to her in a manner that they cannot communicate with their father. Roy says as much to her during their argument about Gabriel on the morning of John’s birthday. He says, “[T]ell me how come he never let me talk to him like I talk to you?” Elizabeth is also the only person who remembers, or chooses to acknowledge, John’s birthday. She is not able to give him much, but she gives him all that she can.
It is also significant that of all the marital and sexual relationships found in the novel, Elizabeth and Richard had the only alliance founded on love. Her marriage to Gabriel was based on hope that quickly disintegrated. Florence’s marriage to Frank had affection and lust but nothing much deeper, and Gabriel’s marriage to Deborah was more to spite the world than to love the woman. Although Deborah may have loved Gabriel—or at least respected him—the feeling was one sided. Richard loved Elizabeth just as much as she loved him, and their relationship was not built on lust or sex: They had been dating long before they began having intercourse. It is, perhaps, because of her love for Richard, that Elizabeth cherishes John as she does. He is all that she has left of the man whom she loved so desperately and the only reminder of the happy times she and Richard shared. Elizabeth’s love for John is a natural continuation of her love for Richard. It should also be noted that Elizabeth is the only character the reader knows for certain to have had a healthy and loving relationship with her father. Gabriel’s own father left shortly after his birth, just as Richard’s had done. John never knew his biological father, and, as for the man he believes to be his father, he and his brother share a hatred for and a fear of him.
At first glance, Elizabeth and Florence seem to have little in common. The age difference between the two women alone would seem to be an insurmountable barrier. A closer look though reveals many similarities between the two women, but even their similarities belie their differences. The first and most obvious is the location of their birth. Both women are from the South, and both moved to New York City claiming a chance for better opportunities and looking to escape from unhappy homes. Florence had the strength and drive to leave by herself, while Elizabeth left on the arm of Richard.
The homes from which the two young women were running were headed by females who denied them what they most wanted. Florence’s mother gave all the advantages that she was able to afford to the unthankful Gabriel, while Florence was helpless to claim any opportunities for herself. Elizabeth’s aunt denied Elizabeth her father whom she loved to distraction. Even her own mother denied the young Elizabeth the love which is every child’s right.
Both women were the strength in their respective relationship, but neither of them had any power. Florence failed in her attempt to control Frank (who also failed in his role as provider, never able to buy Florence the house or anything else which she really wanted). His attempts to compensate for this lack by buying her baubles and other useless knickknacks only served to infuriate his wife. For Richard, Elizabeth acted as a sort of emotional buoy. Even though their marriage was somewhere in the indefinite future and Elizabeth was not comfortable with Richard’s godless ways, “She did not leave him, because, she was afraid of what might happen to him without her. She did not resist him, because he needed her.” Still, in the end she was powerless to save him from false accusations and police brutality that brought about his suicide.
Finding themselves alone after the loss of their men, both women react in the same way. They lie. Florence claimed that Frank had died without having bought life insurance. Elizabeth bought and wore a wedding ring to disguise the real reason she has a child and no husband. If anyone questioned her, she explained that her husband had died. Elizabeth eventually told Florence the truth about her illegitimate son, but Florence never disclosed her own fabrication.
Florence and Elizabeth deal with their new-found status very differently. Florence remains single while Elizabeth marries as soon as an opportunity presents itself. Perhaps this different reaction can be explained by their very different experiences with relationships. Neither character has any reason to believe that a new relationship with a man would be any different from previous relationships. Of course, Florence would not want to enter into another union. Her experience with men has been less than perfect. Her father deserted her mother, she watched as the young Gabriel moved from woman to woman without a thought, and her own husband left her.
Elizabeth has had a very different experience with men. She has enjoyed happy and loving relationships with both her father and her lover. She believes that they were taken from her and that their separation is in no way the fault of the men. The loss of her father she blames on her aunt, and she shoulders the blame for the loss of Richard. She believes that if she had told him that she was carrying his child, “everything might have been very different, and he would be living yet.” She also believes she loved Richard too much, and God took him from her for that very reason.
