Beverly, Right Here

Iola is Beverly’s mentor. She teaches Beverly how to deal with meaningful relationships, telling her that “[j]ust because you can’t stand to think about something don’t mean it ain’t happening, that it ain’t true. People wait on other people. People rely on other people” (124). Iola gives Beverly a nurturing home and routinely makes her tuna melts. She cares about Beverly, and caring about another person can cause anxiety. Beverly doesn’t want to think about how she can unintentionally worry Iola, but she does—that’s what happens when people make valuable connections. Through Iola, Beverly learns that most relationships don’t carry on indefinitely, yet people should still pursue them. Iola tells Beverly, “I always knew that you was going to leave. I knew that would happen no matter what. It’s just that it was so much fun. Having you here was fun” (225). Iola was aware Beverly would go, but while they were together, they had a blast—the “fun” is what counts.

Iola is also Beverly’s sidekick. Though Iola is much older than Beverly and something like a mother figure, she also functions as a friend or sister. She’s playful and childlike, maintaining a wondrous outlook on the world. She’s innocent and remains open to everything the world offers, including Christmas in July. She buys a toaster simply because it’s “so new and shiny” (60), and the prospect of winning the large turkey excites her. Her inability to drive reinforces her childlike characterization and develops the topsy-turvy dynamic between her and Beverly. As Beverly drives Iola around, Beverly arguably takes on the role of parent or older sibling.

Iola is a round character though she can come across as a caricature. She greets Beverly with a cartoonish “howdy,” and Beverly thinks of her as “something that would spring out of a cuckoo clock, shouting her stupid greeting on the hour and the half-hour” (21). Even though her wig and big glasses add to her cartoonish exterior, DiCamillo gives her feelings and depth. She had a husband, and she gets “blue spells.” Thus, she’s had serious relationships, and she has complex emotions. She also loves being around people, telling Elmer and Beverly, “I like it when the numbers go up instead of down” (162). She cherishes her time with Beverly, but, understanding the ways of the world, she knows their fun wouldn’t last forever.

Elmer is Beverly’s sidekick and romantic interest; however, the two start as antagonists. Like Beverly, Elmer can be sassy, telling her, “[i]f you’re here to buy something, you should buy it. If you’re in here to ask questions, then the question-and-answer session is over” (87-88). He, too, creates a tough, mysterious exterior and suggests that he could be a 10,000-year-old rabbit hunter. When Larksong refers to Beverly as his “friend,” Elmer and Beverly reject the label. Yet the two become friends. Through Elmer, Beverly discovers the angel with blue wings. He teaches her about art, and the two discuss poetry and the world’s terribleness. The Christmas in July dance is a pivotal event in their relationship. Elmer and Beverly dance together, and Beverly puts her head on his chest and hears his heart; it’s a romantic moment.

At 16, Elmer is keenly intelligent and already has a full scholarship to Dartmouth. He likes art and is artistically talented (he draws Iola and Beverly), but he wants to be an engineer. He also likes poetry, but he doesn’t want to admit he reads poetry, thinking that it makes him a “sissy.” He battles acne, and Jerome brutally bullied him in high school. Elmer doesn’t want pity, and he doesn’t present himself as a victim. He tells Beverly, “There are Jeromes everywhere you go. You can never get away from the Jeromes of the world” (158). Elmer is practical and realistic, and he doesn’t delude himself about the inherent cruelty of the world.

Freddie is an antagonist. She’s snobbish and exploitative. She doesn’t join the strike, and her dreams of fame suggest she thinks she’s too good for Mr. C’s. She takes advantage of Beverly’s ignorance of “tipping out” and doesn’t give Beverly a fair share. She thinks Beverly could be a model, but then she changes her mind and calls Beverly unfriendly. When Beverly joins the strike, Freddie calls her a traitor. As an antagonist, Freddie creates tension and conflict.

Arguably, Freddie’s snobbish attitude conceals her insecurities. She doesn’t want to be a waitress. Like Beverly, she wants her life to change. Freddie tells Beverly, “What I’m saying is that you have to have a dream. If you want to get stuck here busing tables for the rest of your life, then go right ahead” (130-31). Though Freddie’s dream is ridiculous, it’s not insincere. She wants more, but she can’t express her ambitions without condescension. She believes a person’s job reflects their inherent worth, so she brags about her dubious modeling career and is critical of the idea that Beverly might spend her life working at the restaurant. Another indication of Freddie’s deep insecurity is that she doesn’t dream of the perfect partner in the same way she dreams of her perfect future as a movie star. Her willingness to be Jerome’s literal partner in crime when he robs Mr. C’s hints that she doesn’t believe her own fantasies about her glamorous future. She uses snobbery and boastfulness to mask her current reality.

Mr. Denby is a comical character. He runs Mr. C’s, and he often appears harried and overwhelmed, telling Doris that “sometimes things spin out of control” (181). Doris and Charles strike, and Doris perceives Mr. Denby as an exploitative, capitalist boss. The role doesn’t match Mr. Denby’s bumbling personality, and the gap between Doris’s perception and Mr. Denby’s characterization creates humor. During the strike, Mr. Denby doesn’t have much power. When he tries to take away Doris and Charles’s fan, Doris orders him to put it back, and he obliges. He cedes to their demands—raising their wages, giving them sick days, and adhering to tax and employment laws. With a wife and kids in Pennsylvania, Mr. Denby presumably conducts business “under the table” to save money for his family. Mr. Denby tells Doris, “I’m working to make the world better for my kids” (179). Thus, he’s also a round character. He has feelings and concerns; greed isn’t his primary motive.

Mrs. Deely hangs out near Zoom City and gives her religious cartoons to children. Elmer views her as an antagonist and accuses her of harassing people. Beverly has a more sympathetic view of Mrs. Deely. She engages with the jarring cartoons and invites her to the Christmas feast at Mr. C’s. Arguably, Mrs. Deely is a round character. She thinks she’s something of an angel spreading God’s truth. She worries about people’s souls, so she tries to save them. She isn’t trying to frighten people––she wants to help them, but she doesn’t have the self-awareness to see that her behavior is odd.

Jerome is an antagonist. He’s a flat, stagnant character, symbolizing cruelty, with Elmer ceding “Jeromes” exist everywhere. Jerome brutally bullies Elmer and robs Mr. C’s. In some contexts, his cartoonish appearance and ineptitude are humorous. Freddie is his girlfriend, and Freddie’s link to him furthers Freddie’s antagonistic characterization.

Doris and Charles work in the kitchen at Mr. C’s. Doris is the cook, and Charles washes the dishes. Charles is a flat character. All the reader knows about Charles is that he was a college football star before he tore his tendon. Conversely, Doris is a round character. She has a large family, proudly telling Mr. Denby, “I’ve raised five children. I’ve got sixteen grandchildren” (179). Like Beverly, Doris is resilient and tough. A regal, commanding presence in the kitchen, she initiates the strike and doesn’t shy away from conflict. Often, she seems to have more power than Mr. Denby (her boss). Similar to Beverly, Doris’s toughness conceals concern and vulnerability. She tells Beverly to “[p]ay attention” because “[n]obody watches out for you in this world” (74). She undercuts her claim by watching out for Beverly. In a world both cruel and kind, Doris is kind.

Based on the single book, not the series, the reader learns Raymie and Louisiana are Beverly’s friends from home. In the book, Beverly refers to Raymie as her best friend and tells Elmer how she and Raymie went to Louisiana’s house and discovered that she and her grandma suddenly vanished. Raymie and Louisiana indicate that Beverly could already form meaningful bonds before she met Iola. Reinforcing her deep connection to Raymie, Beverly writes her a letter and, in the end, calls her to come and take her home.