Jack Baker

Jack Baker is the protagonist of the novel. He and his wife, Elizabeth, seek to maneuver through marriage and struggle with concepts of both autonomy and security. Jack’s childhood is unhappy. His sister Evelyn dies in an accident during a controlled burning of the prairie. After this, his father withdraws from the world. His mother was never happy to begin with, and she is constantly angry, and she blames Jack for Evelyn’s death. Jack attempts to always make his mother happy, believing that if his mother cannot change, the problem must be with him. He is a sickly child, and this adds to the family stress.

He moves to Chicago as a young adult, and he does not return to his family home for many years. He becomes a photographer, and his photography changes throughout the years. In his earliest years, he takes Polaroids. He...