Importance of The Hawk

Hawkins' nickname of “the Hawk” is meant to heighten his threatening status. Evelyn knows personally how violent he can be when he wants to. The others who call him the Hawk do so because of his severe appearance and demeanor. He is also very much out to kill or harm the mission of nuns in America, a mission he and the other Catholic higher-ups see as too liberal. This imagery compliments the instance in the book where Evelyn imagines herself like her childhood rabbit. A hawk could easily kill a rabbit. But when Evelyn reminds herself that she is not a rabbit, meaning she cannot be destroyed by a hawk, or by Hawkins.