Perfect Peace

Emma Jean functions as the main antagonist in the novel, but her role is complicated by the abuse that she experienced as a child and how it shaped her motives. Emma Jean’s mother, Helen Mae, would verbally and physically abuse her because her skin was darker than her sisters’. As a girl, Emma Jean was often overlooked by her mother and treated differently than her sisters, causing her to develop a deep need to be loved. These elements cause Emma Jean to feel as though she “needs” to have a daughter and to give her daughter the things that she always wanted to experience, such as a birthday party, nice dresses, and an education. Ultimately, she desperately wants to prove to herself that she is a better mother than Helen Mae was to her. When her seventh son is born, she blackmails the midwife, Henrietta, into announcing that the child is a girl.

Over the years, Emma Jean reaps the consequences of her actions. After Emma Jean reveals her deception to Paul and the wider community, she is constantly judged by those who once accepted her. As Paul grows older and experiences bullying and alienation from his community for having lived as a girl for several years, Emma Jean’s guilt grows more and more intense. The members of Emma Jean’s church constantly tell her that God will punish her for her actions. Shortly after revealing the truth about Paul, Emma Jean accidentally catches her dress on fire and is left with permanent scars; the narrative does not clarify whether God really did punish her or if the fire is a coincidence. Eventually, her guilt overwhelms her. Deciding that Paul needs a nice suit for the dance, she asks Henrietta to sew him a suit. Henrietta agrees on the condition that Emma Jean will work for her for the rest of her life. This arrangement leads to the rapid deterioration of Emma Jean’s mental health. Immersed in her unresolved guilt, she personifies her negative self-talk into a scolding figure that she calls Silence.

Emma Jean dies by suicide at the end of the novel, allowing the rapid current of the Jordan River to whisk her away. The Jordan River is a significant motif in the novel and is tied to purity and a connection to God. Emma Jean’s decision to surrender herself to the river suggests that in her mind, she is giving herself over to God and understands the parts of herself that she has always refused to acknowledge. It is significant that the reaction to Emma Jean’s death receives only a cursory acknowledgment in the novel—about a page and a half; this stylistic choice implies that her community did not value her very highly after her lie about Paul.

Mister is the penultimate Peace child. He constantly challenges his older brothers’ ideas about gender roles, questioning why he is not allowed to play with Perfect or her doll, Olivia. Mister is a compassionate and loving person. Every time Paul is hurt, Mister is the first person by his side. Mister is also an active advocate for civil rights and racial equality. On one occasion, he witnesses his father being scammed by a group of white men into selling his crops for half their worth, and he feels that he needs to do something about it. He and Johnny Ray Youngblood found the Swamp Creek chapter of the NAACP. He spends days trying to convince members of his community to register to vote, hoping to help Swamp Creek earn its own township.

Mister’s primary function within the novel is to serve as a reminder that a person’s sexuality is often not visible via outward appearances or mannerisms. Toward the end of the novel, Mister reveals to Paul that he is gay and is in a romantic relationship with Johnny Ray. With this development, the author stresses the importance of refraining from assuming the nature of a person’s sexuality based on appearances. Because Mister fits into his community’s expectations of masculinity, his relationship with Johnny Ray shows that a person’s sexuality does not define their behavior or gender expression.

Bartimaeus is the third-youngest child in the Peace family. Having been born blind, Bartimaeus is treated differently than his other siblings, and he is largely free from the constraints of gendered expectations for self-expression. Consequently, Bartimaeus and his father, Gus, have a special relationship. Gus has unresolved childhood trauma due to his father’s harsh admonition that men should never express their emotions, so he shares his emotions openly with Bartimaeus since the boy cannot see him cry. The two make trips to the Jordan River during every rainy season to “cleanse” themselves of the emotions that they have been holding back. Bartimaeus is the first sibling to reassert his support of Paul after he is forced to transition. Bartimaeus also marries Caroline, a woman who is sure that her appearance will prevent her from finding love.

Bartimaeus is the first character to discover the truth about Perfect. From the first time that Bartimaeus holds Perfect as a baby, he can tell that there is something “eerie” going on. When Bartimaeus accidentally discovers that Perfect has a penis, he panics and forces Perfect to promise not to let anyone see her genitalia. Bartimaeus always fights to protect his siblings, even at the cost of his own integrity; in this instance, he considers not telling Perfect or his brothers the truth about Perfect’s physical characteristics to be a lie by omission. However, Paul and Bartimaeus’s relationship is not injured by this lie because Paul knows that his brother always has his best interests at heart.

Sol is the third-oldest child in the Peace family. He is a kind and intelligent young man who loves to learn and read. After Paul transitions, Emma Jean decides to remove Sol from school so that Paul has the chance to attend. This shift causes extreme tension between Sol and Emma Jean and between Paul and Sol. However, Sol proves himself to be extremely resilient by finding a way to collect enough books to create his own personal library. As Sol grows older, he becomes more resentful toward Emma Jean for taking away his opportunity for education. He eventually goes on to apply to Howard University, the college that his aunt Gracie attended.

Sol ends up being accepted into Howard University after being forced to prove his intelligence and worth to the president of the university. He earns his bachelor's degree in psychology because he wants to understand people like Emma Jean, and he also earns a graduate degree. Sol’s journey and the struggles that he faces in pursuing his education are representative of some of the struggles faced by the Black community in the mid-20th century. Sol is not given the same resources or education as white Americans, and he faces additional questioning and testing to prove his intelligence. The president’s remark about “taking a chance” on Sol further emphasizes the racial discrimination that Sol endures in the pursuit of his education.