The Optimist's Daughter

A patient, fair man, Judge McKelva is a highly respected member of the legal, civil, and cultural community of Mount Salus. He is so respected by the entire community that even its black residents turn out for the funeral. In fact, almost the entire town, including the high school marching band, show up. Readers only know Judge McKelva through the eyes of the omniscient narrator and Laurel. The view of him is conflicting. Though he is depicted as a fair and kind soul who practiced fidelity to his wife and daughter, Laurel knows him also as a man who lacked the courage to face the reality of his wife’s cruel and painful death. He is repeatedly referred to as “delicate.” He calls himself an optimist, but Laurel remembers that the first time he said it, he scowled, as if he wasn’t sure whether he believed it. The author creates ambiguity over whether the Judge is truly an optimistic person or, in fact, a man who is dubious about how to love in a way that allows him to face the truth.

He does not want to accept that his new wife is unfaithful, and when he speaks about his eye issues, he never uses the word “vision” but instead refers to his injury as a problem with his “seeing.” In this way, the author points directly to the Judge’s chief character flaw: his inability to face the truth. There is no question about his devotion to those he loves. At issue for Judge McKelva—his main conflict—is always whether he can “see” reality or not. With the complexity of his character, he is a foil to Laurel, who must find a way to balance his two halves and move on from the past. 

Wanda is thin and small, her body a metaphor for her personality, which lacks insight and depth. She comes from Texas and has managed to snag the biggest fish in the pond, the once proud mayor and respected judge of a small, wealthy Southern enclave. She is set for life, yet she remains jealous, possessive, and bitter at the people who inhabit Mount Salus and, especially, her new husband’s daughter. Fay runs on fear—the kind of fear that makes her express herself in hysterical outbursts and cruel words. She loves her dramatics; they garner her the attention she craves. She does not fit into the cultural milieu of the highly mannered town of Mount Salus. She comes from want and is embarrassed by her family of origin, lying that her family members are all dead.

Fay’s chief characteristic is her inability to comprehend the manner, feelings, and emotions of the people who surround her. She is a shallow person whose demonstrated lack of interest in the family’s home and the sentimental value of its furnishings and décor is constantly on exhibit. She does not seem to notice, or have any reference point from which to understand, Laurel’s personal attachment to the house she grew up in. When her mother floats the idea of turning the grand and elegant home into a boarding house, Fay appears to consider it, demonstrating how little she understands of its worth, its value to the community, and the McKelvas’ long history living there. Incapable of truly expressing her grief, Fay reacts to her husband’s inability to wake up after surgery with violence that most certainly kills him. True to her character, Fay writes it off, never accepting responsibility for her actions.

The man who most admires Judge McKelva and weeps at the thought of him being dead, Major Bullock is large, loud, and drunk for most of his presence in the novel. Bullock reveals the tremendous respect the men in town have for Judge McKelva but also the kinds of behaviors they get away with. He also makes himself the de facto man of the house during the viewing, which takes place in the parlor of the dead Judge’s house. Major Bullock is a blundering, fatuous, and meddling person who steps in when no one asks him to and invites Fay’s family to attend the visitation. He is also the first to drunkenly inflate the story of Judge McKelva and the Ku Klux Klan because he senses the rivalry of the Chisoms, demonstrating his pettiness and competitiveness. He inappropriately worries about “poor” Fay and in that regard seems to forget about Laurel and the pain she may be experiencing. 

The Chisom family represents the class differences between Fay’s and Laurel’s upbringings. The author provides context for Fay by introducing first the family in the hospital (the Dalzells) and then Fay’s family, the members of which are very similar in temperament, class, and levels of education. The Chisom family launches one of the most tense and chaotic scenes in the book, one that helps develop and illuminate Laurel’s conflicts about the purpose and meaning of memory in one’s life.

The Chisom family also shows the contrast of family dynamics between the poor and uneducated and the wealthy and educated. Fay’s family in comparison to Laurel’s is vulgar, loud, and inappropriate. At the same time, it is clear they love Fay, and they do not hesitate when Fay decides to return for a brief respite to Texas with them. They offer Fay the comfort and ribald humor she is used to, and they are willing to accept her hysterics and her bad behavior. 

Missouri is the black maid who has worked for the McKelva family since Laurel was a child. In the South at the time, white families often had live-in or fulltime maids, many of whom were the descendants of slaves. Missouri is sensitive to Laurel’s situation, and her calm and level-headed personality anchors Laurel as she struggles, most especially with the bird trapped in the house. While Missouri must attend to Fay’s needs, she does so only out of respect for her employer, the Judge. She favors Laurel and does what she can to help her through the death of her father.

Missouri also represents the way blacks are treated in the South. When the men at the wake joke about the “got-shot witness,” they are joking about Missouri right in front of her. It is as if she doesn’t exist for anyone, and the only one who appears to treat her like a human is Laurel.