The Rainbow

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1915

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-16

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Character Analysis

Tom Brangwen

As the novel’s first protagonist, Tom sets the tone for later generations. He is highly sensitive, but he is also stubborn and often struggles to control his temper. After seeing an attractive woman with her foreign husband, Tom begins drinking heavily to recapture the “glow” he felt while admiring the couple. Tom has difficulties connecting with his wife, Lydia. Although he loves her, he struggles to overcome his binary view of women as being categorized and defined by their sexual availability and what that availability implies about their morality. Tom also feels he and Lydia are too different to really connect, and after a heated argument in which she accuses him of having an affair, they realize they made each other feel unloved and unwanted. Tom makes substantial efforts to bond with his stepdaughter, Anna, and although she is still a child, she sometimes ends up doing tremendous emotional labor for Tom as he moves from one existential crisis to another. Tom generally feels inadequate compared to “cultured” people like his brother Alfred, but he brings much prosperity to his family and ensures that future generations can live secure, comfortable lives. Tom’s struggles to remain connected to his religious beliefs introduce the conflict between faith and modernity that each generation in the novel confronts.

Anna Lensky (Brangwen)

Anna is Tom’s stepdaughter, and their close bond in her childhood characterizes her relationships as an adult. In her youth, Anna is independent and often pushes back against authorities, and she has difficulty making friends. She prefers spending time with Tom, and although her mother, Lydia, advises her that all women must have a husband, Anna never learns how to develop the patience and mutual trust that Lydia and Tom eventually cultivated in their marriage. As a result, she marries Will expecting him to fail her. Their marriage begins with a blissful honeymoon, but as soon as they resume their places in society, their relationship turns volatile. She is not as interested in religion as Will is, and her disbelief causes her to mock and interrogate his faith at every turn. Anna even mocks the art in a cathedral they visit, one she knows Will adores. Her marriage with Will goes through phases of intense love and attraction and violent arguing and shame. She embraces domestic life after her children are born, finding joy in motherhood, but her daughter Ursula views her in adulthood as the embodiment of the traditional norms she is determined to resist.

Will Brangwen

William (Will) is Alfred’s son, Tom’s nephew, and Anna’s step-cousin and husband. Although their marriage is not technically incestuous, Anna’s decision to marry a Brangwen further inscribes her in the family despite her desire to detach from it. Much like his wife, Will is prone to swift mood swings, and he can be just as cruel as she. Their early marriage is contentious at best, and eventually he submits to Anna’s dominant will. Of the nine children he has with Anna, he is closest with their eldest daughter, Ursula. In a relationship that is reminiscent of Tom and Anna’s own bond, Will relies on Ursula to feel he still has power in the household. He keeps her vulnerable to him by alternately doting on her and rejecting her. On one occasion, he hits her in the face with a dusting cloth, and Ursula is so stunned and hurt by the action that she feels their bond is severed forever. As Will moves further into adulthood, his temper stabilizes, and he becomes involved in their community. He applies his artisan skills and knowledge of crafting to teach local schoolboys the skills he largely taught himself.

Ursula Brangwen

The novel’s final protagonist, Ursula does not struggle for dominance in her relationships like the women of previous generations did in theirs. She enters her courtship with Anton knowing that she is in charge, and she is ambitious and independent despite her uncertainties about who she really is and who she is meant to be. Throughout the novel, Ursula’s religious beliefs fluctuate between being so devout that she literally turns the other cheek when her sister Theresa hits her and dismissing Christianity as a myth. Ursula also expands the novel’s exploration of feminist ideas, and her character arc introduces a sexual relationship between women into the novel. She acts on her ambition, first by entering the working world as a schoolteacher and later by applying to earn a college degree. Ursula triumphs in the “man’s world,” and she rejects Anton’s first few proposals because she desires more for herself than the domestic life her mother, Anna, embraced. Ursula’s relationship with her teacher, Winifred, does eventually end with Winifred’s engagement, signaling her return to the socially acceptable constraints of heteronormativity, but Ursula sees Winifred as an admirable example of a free, confident, liberated woman. By the novel’s conclusion, Ursula believes she is pregnant by Anton and tries to accept his proposal again, but he is already married. She manages to escape when she is surrounded by wild horses that represent the frightening yet exciting freedom available to her after she avoids marriage and motherhood. When she walks through the rain, she experiences something akin to a baptism, confirming the hope and renewal possible to her on this new and autonomous path.