Who is Bobby from No Telephone to Heaven and what is their importance? No_Telephone_to_Heaven English & Literature Bobby | No Telephone to Heaven

Bobby is Clare's lover, an American soldier wounded in the Vietnam War who deserted the army. He suffers from a wound in his leg that never fully heals, the result of his being infected by Agent Orange, a toxic chemical used by the American forces in combat. In the metaphoric language of the novel, he and his wound represent the open, ongoing wounds suffered by Clare, and by implication all black people, as the result of racism. His relationship with Clare, to take the metaphor further, is an externalization of Clare's inner encounters with what a life defined by racism has caused her to be.