Hurricane Child

Kalinda Francis is, in many ways, a foil to Caroline. Where Caroline is reserved and quiet, Kalinda loves to talk and has a lot to say. She is confident, carefree, and outgoing with thick locks piled high on her head. Caroline is afraid of the ocean, and Kalinda jumps in every at given chance. Caroline isn’t a fan of jewelry, but Kalinda makes her a handmade seashell necklace that Caroline swears she’ll never take off. Caroline appreciates the differences she sees in Kalinda, as they are an escape from her own life. Kalinda’s openness allows Caroline to take a break from her constant worrying about where her mother is.

While they are foils, however, the two characters have key traits in common. Kalinda, too, has beautiful dark skin. She, too, is attracted to other girls. She also shares Caroline’s ability to see spirits, and discovering this shared ability is a fundamental part of Caroline’s movement away from isolation and toward community; before, Caroline was unique in this ability and felt alone because of it. Caroline and Kalinda bond over seeing spirits, although Kalinda is superstitious about speaking aloud about them. While Caroline sees the Woman in Black, there is a spirit of a white woman in a nightgown who follows Kalinda around.

The girls’ shared imaginativeness and open-mindedness are central to their bond. Kalinda believes in infinite universes and that time is only a concept and doesn’t truly exist. She knows a lot about the spirit world, such as that the only way to enter the world is during an eclipse. Their shared playful imagination informs many of their most meaningful conversations; Caroline and Kalinda decide that if they are instruments, Caroline is a drum and Kalinda is a violin, which Kalinda says she doesn’t like because violins are sad. Kalinda likes accordions because they are different and not as pretty as the other instruments—this conversation initiates their friendship, and Kalinda’s remarks signal that she tends to be empathic toward outcasts like Caroline.

While both characters were already imaginative, the two further broaden each other’s minds. It is Caroline who helps Kalinda realize that any religion saying they are wrong for loving each other can’t be true if it’s something that makes them both happy.

The woman in black is a spirit who first appears to Caroline on the ocean floor when Caroline was very little and fell off Mister Lochana’s boat. Caroline quickly draws the conclusion that this spirit has something to do with her mother’s disappearance, and as the story unfolds, the woman in black does provide a protection and consolation that Caroline’s absent mother no longer can.

The spirit’s eyes shine like two full moons, but everything else is complete darkness. Indeed, she is described as blacker than Caroline, “blacker than black” (4)—a telling observation, as Caroline’s dark skin is part of her alienation. It is therefore fitting that the spirit appears to Caroline in moments of intense loneliness and low self-worth. However, just as Caroline’s skin is truly beautiful, so the spirit eventually emerges as a benevolent source of love.

When Miss Joe asks Caroline about guardian angels, Caroline remembers the Woman in Black emitted a feeling of protection before Caroline washed ashore at the end of the novel. The spirit stops appearing when Caroline makes amends with her mother, and eventually, Caroline no longer fears the spirit’s presence. Caroline states at the end of the story that she thinks the woman in black will always be around. While this spirit initially seemed evidence of a curse, she is more of a blessing.

Caroline’s mother, Doreen, is both Caroline’s origin and destination in the novel. Her absence is the principal driving force of the plot as the protagonist searches for her and clings to memories of her love. This is a love that Caroline feels no one else will ever give her—but the search for Doreen’s love ends with Caroline’s discovery of self-love. By the end of the novel, mother and daughter have a fresh start, and Doreen gives Caroline “permission” to recognize that she deserves to exist and deserves love, just like anybody else.

For the greater part of the novel, Doreen is defined through her absence. Nevertheless, the character remains present through Caroline’s persistent recollections, and these memories are largely characterized by a sense of happiness: Caroline remembers Sundays spent at the market with passion fruit juice and boiled plantain; she remembers her mother’s embrace and her singing voice; she bonds with her father over Doreen’s postcards. Despite the joy in Caroline’s memories, however, Doreen was a profoundly sad person, and part of her presence in the novel is in the recurring motif of Nina Simone’s “Blackbird”—a profoundly sad song. Caroline eventually learns that she and her mother have many things in common, not least of which is a history of painful isolation. Apart from the loneliness, their other shared qualities include that neither character is “sweet.” Doreen agrees with Caroline that Caroline isn’t sweet, but Doreen says that Caroline must have inherited this from her. Through Miss Joe’s stories, there is also the suggestion that Doreen, like Caroline, is attracted to women.

Doreen’s character is partly a vessel for Caroline’s maturation. When Caroline finally brings herself to empathize with her mother’s pain and forgive her for the abandonment, it marks a transformation; prior to this moment, Caroline’s arc found definition through hope, but it now finds meaning through reconciliation—a fuller and more relational form of hope.

Miss Loretta Joseph, or Miss Joe, is the Catholic school principal. Her office and home are disorganized and stacked with loose papers and piles of books—an indirect characterization of her intellect and nonrigidity (a trait also expressed through her patience, lenience, and understanding when Caroline gets in trouble). She is unmarried and has no children, and mothers at the school find her independence intimidating. Caroline likes that she fixes her own pickup truck and answers to no man. Through Miss Joe’s anecdotes of Doreen, these qualities take on a new significance, as Miss Joe is implicitly a lesbian—a fact that affords the character a distinct irony, considering she heads an institution whose theology marginalizes her orientation.

Miss Joe’s character is an incentive for Caroline’s character growth, as Caroline decides her principal is a role model. Miss Joe is an avid reader and gives Caroline a variety of books by strong Black women, hoping that the books’ content will ameliorate some of Caroline’s loneliness and inspire her to maintain hope. She stands up tall and provides a support system and mentor for Caroline, even if Caroline doesn’t always agree with the advice given to her. One of Miss Joe’s defining qualities is empathy; she understands both sides of the issues caused by Doreen beginning a new life.

Caroline’s father lives with her on Water Island and is working much of the time. His bond with Caroline is clearly not as strong as Doreen’s was. He often forgets to leave money for Caroline, is very private, and he is unsure how to raise Caroline alone. Memories of Doreen allow him and Caroline to bond as they look over postcards—but Doreen’s absence ends up driving father and daughter apart as Caroline becomes angry with her father’s reticence, and her father does not handle it well. He vividly demonstrates his ineptitude and lack of understanding when he tells Caroline that he threw away Doreen’s postcard collection, one of the few cherished keepsakes Caroline had.

Doreen’s disappearance is the whole occasion for the narrative, and Caroline’s father was arguably a major catalyst for that disappearance; he fell in love with another woman while he was still with Doreen, and he had Bernadette who bears a striking resemblance to him. Unwilling to withstand this loneliness and conflict, Doreen left. Despite his faults, he loves Caroline deeply. He is also a vehicle for her character growth: He has traveled to many countries, something Caroline didn’t know about him, which makes her realize that she still has a lot to learn about her parents. He also initiates Caroline’s reconnection with her mother and encourages Caroline to try and rekindle their relationship. He ultimately becomes part of the plot’s overarching action of reconciliation when he invites Bernadette and her mother to stay on Water Island every summer, and he wants to bridge the gaps in his life going forward.