Tom Wingo

The narrator of the novel, Tom is the principal character, and his mental instability is actually the focus in the tale. Tom is a subdued man who once had great potential but has become depressed and mentally unbalanced by the events of his life. He is flippant and makes jokes, often extremely inappropriate, about everything. He has literally driven his wife into the arms of another man, and he feels his daughters slipping away from him. It is history repeating itself. He is losing the girls who once adored him to their realization of his inadequacies just as he and his siblings lost their family as they recognized the failures of their parents. His descent into depression has left him impotent both physically and mentally. He goes to New York ostensibly to help Savannah, the twin he has always been close to, only to find himself under...