42 pages • 1 hour read
Richard FordIndependence Day
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995A 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
Frank Bascombe
Frank is the first-person narrator of the novel, and hence the story is predominantly about his life and his reflections on it. Frank carries with him the weight of past tragedy: the death of his son Ralph. He is also burdened by a sense of guilt over his behavior toward the end of his marriage. While the topic of Frank’s infidelity in his marriage is only given a glancing treatment, Frank mentions enough through his internal monologues and in his dialogues with Ann that he was unfaithful. However, he traces the collapse of his marriage to the death of his son, believing his infidelity was a consequence of the ensuing emotional drift between the two.
Frank is in the midst of a typical mid-life crisis. The turmoil of his past, which has filtered down to his son Paul, coupled with his anxieties over where his life is headed, fuels the crisis. As a realtor, Frank senses the impermanence of life and the way that dreams begin with firm resolve but ultimately do not last forever—and often not very long at all. He sees this firsthand, and his awareness of this fact makes him a trustworthy and objective realtor. He is able to keep distance from his clients, allowing him to properly guide them with his pragmatic approach to the business.
At times, Frank is hard on himself, and over the course of the novel readers sense him as someone who is emotionally detached from the world. This is not always backed up by how others see him. Sally, for instance, likes Frank very much and thinks highly of him. Although she is guarded with him, she behaves this way because of the enigmatic nature of Frank’s comments to her over time. Despite these comments and the misunderstandings that ensue, she still thinks highly of him. The same is true of the Markhams who, despite the ups and downs of their own personal experiences buying a house, return to Frank as a trusted and steady friend.
For much of the novel, Frank tries to justify his life in what he calls his “existence period.” The fateful trip with Paul and the injurious mishap that befalls him catalyzes Frank and sends him toward a new phase in life. As a character, Frank undergoes change, though it is subtle, and he remains somewhat indecisive at the end of the novel.
Paul Bascombe
The 15-year-old son of Frank and Ann, Paul is in the midst of some emotional troubles, culminating in a shoplifting arrest and compounded by an assault on a female security guard. Like his father, Paul is likewise passing from one stage to the next, in his case from childhood to adulthood. Paul seems disinterested and purposely aloof at times. He is often sarcastic and snide, even toward his mother and father.
At first, Paul is lukewarm at best towards Frank’s grand plans of an eventful, impactful father-son weekend. As the trip begins, Paul is downright antagonistic toward Frank, going so far as to rip a page out of Frank’s personal copy of Self Reliance. Readers see Paul’s mood change at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield while he is playing the hoops shooting game. He tells his father later that his mind quieted down while on the game’s conveyor belt. It is a calming experience for him, considering his tendency to be lost in thought. Paul is aware of his meta-cognition—his thinking about thinking—which makes him feel confused and unable to productively sort through his problems.
The novel’s truly dramatic event is performed by Paul when he lurches out in front of the fast pitch in the batting cage. It is an act of self-harm, though he insists that it is not a suicide attempt. Instead, his spontaneous actions indicate his need to confront danger, almost as a means of proving to himself that he does not have to live in fear.
Ann O’Dell (Bascombe)
What the reader learns about Frank’s ex-wife Ann is somewhat shaded by Frank’s opinions of her. The couple has been divorced for seven years, and at this stage of their lives, Ann has moved on. Frank feels betrayed by Ann’s desire to live life again, and he holds out hope that one day the couple will reunite. Ann is aware of this fact, and when she speaks with Frank, she tends to keep him at a distance. However, occasionally, Frank succeeds in pulling her into an argument and a discussion of reuniting. Ann is always defiant, refusing to bend to Frank’s innuendos and suggestions of the future.
After Paul’s accident, readers see a change occur in Ann’s behavior toward Frank. The injury and the consequent worry she feels bring her back to earlier times with Frank. Rather than see him as an enemy or an antagonist, Ann empathizes with him. The death of their son Ralph meant the death of their marriage, but what Ann realizes is that this is not Frank’s fault entirely. With her own life in apparent disarray—Paul speculates that she is cheating on her husband—her reconciliation with Frank helps her to come to terms with the past as well.
Joe and Phyllis Markham
Joe and Phyllis Markham are a married couple from Vermont who are Frank’s clients. They have chosen Haddam, New Jersey as the place where they will start a new kind of life that will provide their daughter with a better chance of a quality education. This motivation is the very heart of The American Dream—the quest to provide for one’s children a better life than his or her parents. However, when the Markhams begin searching for homes, their hopes are quickly dashed. The hard truth of their financial situation quickly puts a dent in their plans. They are woefully underprepared for their undertaking.
By the time Frank shows the Markhams the Houlihan house, they have seen 45 homes. They have been transient and living out of a motel while in New Jersey, and because of their financial situation, their time is running out. This understandably causes the couple much consternation, and they handle the stress differently. Joe is grouchier and more pugnacious about the lack of success; Phyllis is far more subdued, but the stress of the situation causes her health problems. When they try another realtor, the experience is so miserable that they return to Frank with urgency. By this point, the Houlihan house has been sold, they are out of options, and the only choice they have left is to rent from Frank. In some ways, this is a defeat and a seeming rebuke of the American Dream as elusive and out of reach. However, while the Markhams are not entirely likable characters, their gritty resolve and willingness to sacrifice represent the nobility of the pursuit of that dream.
Karl Bemish
Karl is Frank’s business partner at the birch-beer stand. He is the day-to-day operator of the establishment whereas Frank is a silent partner. A man in his 60s, Karl is energetic and determined, and his resolve to keep pursuing his dreams provides a foil for Frank, who by comparison is content to be a more passive participant in his life. Karl’s ambition gets him into the financial troubles that Frank bails him out of.
Karl is plainspoken and a staunch Republican, which is another foil for Frank who leans Democrat and is more liberal. This difference allows Richard Ford to insert some political commentary into the novel. This is by no means a political novel; instead, Karl and Frank’s political differences serve to highlight the national differences of the time. Frank likes Karl because he is genuine. Unlike Frank, who tends to put on an artificial persona generally, Karl is unabashed, and while some of his comments and actions make Frank squeamish—particularly when he informs Frank that he keeps a gun in the birch-beer stand for his protection—Frank does not have to guess at the kind of person Karl is.
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