Elevation: A Novel

Deirdre McComb is a restaurant owner, a former competitive runner, and Scott’s relatively new neighbor. As a woman married to another woman, she’s no stranger to prejudice and discrimination. In the small, conservative town of Castle Rock, such discrimination is widespread and threatens to sink the restaurant she recently opened with her wife Missy. At first, Deirdre comes off as a possible antagonist in the story. She’s hostile toward Scott and refuses to accept his efforts at fostering a neighborly relationship between them. She’s rude, dismissive, and easily offended. In fact, she approximates a stereotype character in early scenes, evoking images of the hypocritical progressive, the villain of cancel culture, determined to find offense in everything around her. She accuses Scott of being prejudiced against marriage between people of the same sex after he asks her to make sure her dogs don’t poop on his lawn, and pounces on his use of the term “policing”—in reference to picking up after the dogs—calling him militaristic. Despite being affected by discrimination, Deirdre is guilty of such conduct herself. For example, she says to Scott, “[y]our body tells me that you’re a typical overindulgent, under-exercised white American male” (79), displaying ageism and sizeism. Her hypocrisy demonstrates that prejudicial thinking patterns aren’t limited to any political or social demographic.

Deirdre’s hostility is motivated, at least in part, by past experiences with prejudice. She avoids being hurt by pushing others away before they can let her down. Her wife recognizes this and helps Scott understand it. Deirdre’s conflict with Scott is a manifestation of her larger conflict with a society that disapproves of her, or even hates her, because of an intrinsic characteristic. Deirdre’s changing relationship with Scott reveals the possibility of Overcoming Rifts Caused by Prejudice. Her character arc echoes this process. When Scott helps her up during the Turkey Trot and his weightlessness is momentarily shared with her, it leads to an epiphany—symbolized by lightning—in which she realizes she’s misjudged Scott. This revelation helps Deirdre let go of her fear of trusting people and opens her up to a happier future. Her wife’s email to Scott best summarizes Deirdre’s character arc. She may always be “a prickly pear” (134), but because Scott helped her up when she fell, Deirdre will no longer be closed off to the world and the all the joys it has to offer.

Missy Donaldson is Deirdre’s wife and the talented chef at their restaurant. She’s characterized initially by Scott’s stereotyping observations: He sees her as “a sweet little thing who look[s] at the world with a mixture of fear and wonder” (24) and deems her fragile, like his mother’s decorative china plates. Fittingly, given the novel’s thematic opposition to the practice of judging others based on appearance, Scott turns out to be wrong about Missy. Her actions demonstrate courage, not only in approaching Scott in Chapter 1, but in opening a new restaurant in a small town where she may not be accepted. This contrast between Missy’s timid appearance and courageous approach to life gives depth and complexity to her character.

Missy’s effort to find common ground with Scott is motivated, in part, by a desire to protect Deirdre, whom she loves and wants to shield from hurt. This is ironic, given Scott’s assumption that Deirdre is the protector in the relationship. Missy approaches her first interaction with Myra the same way she approaches her first interaction with Scott: by building bridges through common ground. In this case, the two women bond over a shared interest in culinary arts. This approach demonstrates another effective method for Overcoming Rifts Caused by Prejudice. Missy’s character is static, since she doesn’t undergo significant transformation in the course of the narrative. One of her functions in the story is to elucidate the transformations that Scott and Deirdre undergo. Both her explanation of Deirdre’s hostility in Chapter 1 and her email to Scott in Chapter 6 interpret for the reader Scott and Deirdre’s motivations, actions, and realizations. In other words, Missy tells the reader what the story’s plot and characters mean in terms of the novel’s themes.