The Long Way Home

Clara is a major character in the novel and a secondary protagonist. She is a woman in her forties who has lived in Three Pines for a long time and has a happy and peaceful life there. She has become a renowned artist relatively late in life, experiencing an “unexpected and spectacular ascent” (48). She is unconventional in her approach to art and endured ridicule for years before she became successful. Despite these experiences, Clara is optimistic, resilient, and not easily discouraged. When others mocked her art, she just kept trying. The narrator describes how “Clara didn’t carry a grudge. They were far too heavy and she had too far to go” (87). Confidence and resilience are important character traits in Clara because they motivate her to be persistent in her search for her missing husband.

Over the course of the novel, Clara becomes much more invested in her husband and the possibility of a future together. When she starts looking for Peter, Clara is not sure that she wants to reunite with him; as she explains to Myrna, “I just want to find him, to know he’s all right. And then I can get on with my life” (71). As Clara learns more about how Peter has changed during their time apart, however, she begins to “reali[ze] she was falling in love. She’d always loved Peter, but this was something else” (182). Clara’s new attachment to Peter leads her to become more emotional and impulsive. This development in her character is sometimes helpful since it leads her to be decisive and assertive, but it also becomes detrimental. Gamache warns her that love “can also distort. Slip over into desperation and delusion” (185). His prediction comes true when Clara refuses to wait at the diner, telling Myrna that “I’ve come too far, and waited too long” (360). Although she acts with good intentions, Clara’s impatience leads to the death of her husband.

Massey is the villain and antagonist of the novel; he murders Norman out of artistic jealousy and eventually kills Peter as well. Massey is a complex character because, on the surface, he seems to be a warm and caring man. When Myrna first meets Massey, she easily “under[stands] why [he] was a favorite teacher” (90) and several characters comment on his resemblance to Gamache in terms of his calm and caring demeanor. These character traits mean that no one is suspicious of Massey even once it is clear that he is somehow connected to Norman and to Peter’s disappearance. Jean-Guy even ironically speculates that Massey might have gone to Tabaquen “to protect [Peter]. He sounded like that sort of man” (311). The mystery is difficult to solve because Massey’s violent and cruel nature is well-hidden.

Beneath the surface, Massey is warped and full of rage due to years of being frustrated with his lack of artistic talent. In the final confrontation at the cabin, he admits that “I haven’t painted in years, you know […] Nothing. Empty” (367). Ruth later comments that she was uneasy about Massey from the beginning because he struck her as “nothing. Empty. Like the canvas. I found that terrifying” (372). In addition to his spite and jealousy, Massey is erratic and violent. He is determined to lash out at anyone who sees through his facade. As Gamache summarizes, “[Norman] recognized the rage, the fear in you. And you hated him all the more for it” (366). It is unclear what fate Massey meets at the end of the novel, but he seems likely to be jailed for murder.