Dr. Alec Macphail

Dr. Macphail, a medical doctor, is 40- years-old, thin, and has pale blue eyes, thinning red hair, and red, freckled skin. He speaks with a light Scots accent and is recovering from a wound received in the Great War. He is traveling on the ship, accompanied by his wife, to the town of Apia where he looks forward to being professionally engaged for a one-year period. In the narrative Dr. Macphail serves as an ineffectual counterweight to Davidson's weighty and misguided opinions. Aptly named, Dr. Macphail never misses an opportunity to fail to act. In his capacity as a doctor he is competent and professional, but as a human being he is indecisive, introverted, and incapable of defending his opinion. Dr. Macphail is particularly bothered by the incessant rain and eventually comes to feel that the raw nature of the South Pacific is savage and uncompromising...