57 pages • 1 hour read
Kalynn BayronThis Poison Heart
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Briseis Greene
Briseis Greene is the novel’s protagonist and narrator. At the beginning of the story, she is struggling with the dual burden of concealing and learning to master her magical plant-growing powers, which necessitates keeping secrets that have cost her friendships and rendered her time at school challenging. Although she is very close with her moms, Thandie and Angie, and the three communicate openly with one another, Briseis sometimes keeps secrets from them as well, especially whenever she worries that revealing the full nuances of her powers will lead them to fear her.
Briseis is determined and action oriented. When an obstacle arises, she doggedly pursues a solution even when her path forward is unclear. Despite having been rejected in the past by those who learn of her powers, Briseis remains trusting and wishes to share her secret with others. This desire sometimes leads her to trust the wrong people, such as Karter. She is thoughtful when it comes to caring for those she loves, and she is always conscientious of how her actions will affect her moms. Over the course of the novel, Briseis learns to trust more deeply in her powers and to embrace the things about herself that make her different, rather than resisting them. She also embraces more Expansive Definitions of Family as she learns more about her biological family while coming to accept that this curiosity does not compromise her relationship with her moms.
Thandie Greene/“Mom”
Thandie Greene, whom Briseis calls “Mom,” is one of Briseis’s mothers. Thandie is naturally suspicious of good fortune and tends to think more about things before deciding if they’re a good idea than her wife, Angie. Thandie is a fierce defender of her family and frequently arms herself with a Taser when potential danger looms. Despite the serious allergies that make her suffer during her family’s summer in Rhinebeck, Thandie determines that staying in the small town is best for her family and ultimately puts their needs first. She is open with and supportive of her daughter, whom she encourages to take time to relax following a stressful school year. At the end of the novel, Thandie is killed by Mrs. Redmond, though Hecate tells Briseis that resurrection is possible.
Angie Greene/“Mo”
Angie Greene, whom Briseis calls “Mo” (as a diminutive of “Mom” that differentiates her from Thandie, whom Briseis calls “Mom”), is the more impulsive and optimistic of the Greene parents, though she is not careless. Angie is open and sentimental with her daughter, often expressing her love and speaking candidly about her feelings on difficult topics, including her changing perspective on Briseis’s birth family and the Greenes’ challenging financial situation. Angie is additionally playful with her family and accepts their teasing good-naturedly (such as when she puts on a full set of chef’s whites to make breakfast and then accepts teasing when she burns the waffles she attempts to make).
Karter Redmond
Karter Redmond is Briseis’s first friend in Rhinebeck, though she learns at the end of the novel that he has actually been working against her at the order of his mother, Mrs. Redmond. Though the revelation of Karter’s duplicity casts doubt upon his characterization (which is all offered via Briseis’s first-person narration), he appears impressed with Briseis’s powers and seems to be a reluctant participant in his mother’s plans. Before his true motivations are revealed, Karter admits to having a complicated relationship with his mother, whom he describes as being obsessed with her work (which is revealed to be her decades-long plot to get the Living Elixir). He attempts to warn Briseis and her family away from Rhinebeck before Mrs. Redmond attacks and apologizes for his part in kidnapping Thandie and Briseis. After Hecate intervenes to take Mrs. Redmond to the underworld, Karter flees, leaving his fate at the end of the novel uncertain.
Marie Morris
Marie Morris is an immortal girl who has been alive for hundreds of years after being saved from the bubonic plague by the Living Elixir. She is Briseis’s love interest in the novel. Marie reveals her secrets slowly, though she does not openly lie to Briseis about her immortality, instead admitting that she has things she is hiding but not explaining just what those things are. Marie is protective; when the men in the graveyard attack Briseis, she kills them in Briseis’s defense. She possesses some insecurity about being liked after her immortality is known and expresses worry that Briseis will no longer wish to be acquainted with her after learning the truth.
