Line #177 Characters/ItCantHappenHere


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5	[[foldercontrol]]
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7	[[folder: Jessup Household]]
8
9	!!Doremus Jessup
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11	A Fort Beulah, Vermont newspaper publisher with a strong sense of justice. He watches nervously as Windrip takes power, then resolves to quietly resist the regime.
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13	* ActualPacifist: He takes a dim view of war, although his feelings about armed resistance change over time. He also prefers to resist the Windrip regime through non-violent means.
14	* ArrestedForHeroism: He is arrested and briefly detained for writing a scathing column criticizing the Windrip regime. Later, he is tortured and imprisoned at the Trianon camp for disseminating banned media.
15	* BeAllMySinsRemembered: Doremus blames his own passivity (and that of others like him) for the ascendancy of totalitarianism in America. He expresses this sentiment in a scathing column criticizing Windrip.
16	--> "The tyranny of this dictatorship isn't primarily the fault of Big Business, nor of the demagogues who do their dirty work. It's the fault of Doremus Jessop! Of all the contientious, respectable, lazy-minded Doremus Jessops who have let the demagogues wriggle in, without fierce enough protest ... I can blame no Aras Dilley, no Shad Ledue, no Buzz Windrip, but only my own timid soul and drowsy mind. Forgive, O Lord!"
17	%%* CoolOldGuy
18	* TheCynic: How most of his neighbors view him due to his realistic take on the likelihood of Windrip's becoming a dictator. He's shown to [[PlayedWith have played with]] being a [[TheFatalist fatalist]] due to his view that a dictatorship was inevitable due to discontent and weakness of the country due to the [[TheGreatDepression current crisis]].
19	* DistressedDude: When he is tortured and imprisoned at the Trianon camp. [[spoiler: Lorinda arranges his escape.]]
20	* TheExile: After Lorinda helps him escape from Trianon, he flees to Canada and lives among other American exiles for a time.
21	* GuileHero: He resists the Windrip regime by disseminating forbidden news media.
22	* HomelessHero: [[spoiler: At the end of the novel, Doremus returns to the U.S. to encourage dissenters. He has no permanent address and is constantly on the run to evade Corpos.]]
23	* HopeBringer: To Lorinda. [[spoiler: Also to the dissenters he secretly educates at the end of the novel.]]
24	%%* IntrepidReporter
25	%%* KnightInSourArmor
26	* NobleFugitive: At the end of the novel.
27	* PairTheSmartOnes: He and Lorinda are both intelligent and socially conscious. Lorinda is much more his intellectual and spiritual equal than Emma.
28	* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: He's an intelligent man with strong convictions about social justice, resisting a totalitarian regime. He's also having an adulterous affair, finds his young grandson annoying, and experiences compassion fatigue [[spoiler: after listening to too many tragic stories from fellow exiles in Canada.]] He's a noble character, but he's no saint.
29	* ScarsAreForever: His back is covered in crisscross scars from the whippings he received at Trianon.
30	%%* TheSmartGuy
31	* UnlikelyHero: A sixty-something, middle-class newspaper man who resists the Windrip regime at considerable risk to himself and his family.
32
33	!!Emma Jessup
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35	Doremus's spouse, a housewife.
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37	* ApatheticCitizens: She never seems to grasp how destructive the Windrip regime truly is, being more concerned about mundane matters.
38	* BettyAndVeronica: The Betty to Lorinda's Veronica. She's gentle, quiet, and practical. Doremus finds her presence comforting, thinking of Emma as his "bread" and Lorinda as his "wine."
39	%%* {{Housewife}}
40	* SkewedPriorities: She's more concerned about practical matters than oppression, much to Doremus' chagrin. Even when M.M.'s charge into her home and drag off Doremus, she's more upset by the mess the M.M.'s made than her husband's incarceration.
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42	!!Cecilia "Sissy" Jessup
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44	Doremus' youngest daughter and co-conspirator.
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46	* AffectionateNickname: Her real name is Cecilia, but everyone calls her Sissy.
47	* DaddysGirl: She is very close to Doremus.
48	* GuileHero: She pretends to befriend Shad and gathers important information in the process. She also takes part in the underground newspaper alongside her family.
49	* HeroicSeductress: A nonsexual example. She pretends to befriend Shad so as to glean information from him.
50	* NaiveEverygirl: She's brave and optimistic, but she has some very naive ideas about sex ''and'' about violence against women. As the novel progresses, she loses her naivety.
51	%%* PluckyGirl
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53	!!Mary Greenhill
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55	Doremus' older daughter and co-conspirator.
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57	* AcePilot: [[spoiler: Galvanized by her husband's murder and her father's incarceration, she joins the Corpo Women's Flying Corps and trains as a bomber pilot. She is later assigned to escort District Commissioner Swan's plane to Washington. She crashes her plane into Swan's, killing Swan, his aides, and herself.]]
58	%%* ActionGirl
59	* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:She kills Swan by ramming her plane into his.]]
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61	!!Mrs. Candy
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63	The Jessup family housekeeper, a kindly older woman.
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65	* BewareTheNiceOnes: When M.M.s barge into the Jessups' home and terrorize the family, Mrs. Candy violently lunges at one of the M.Ms.
66	%%* KindlyHousekeeper
67	* MamaBear: Do '''not''' touch any of the Jessups. She lunged at one of the M.M.s who stormed into the house looking for Doremus. Later, when Shad visited Sissy at the house, she hid with a knife in hand in case Shad tried to harm Sissy.
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69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder: Windrip and Advisors]]
72
73	!!Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip
74
75	An affable but shallow politician who mounts a populist presidential campaign. He and his administration set up a brutal totalitarian regime after he takes office.
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77	%%* AffablyEvil
78	* TheCaligula: He becomes increasingly paranoid, even shooting at two of his own guards because he thought they were laughing at him.
79	%%* CorruptPolitician
80	* DecadentCourt: His administration is characterized by ruthless internal politics and jostling for power. Doubly so near the end of the book, when [[spoiler: Saranson sends him to exile in Europe, and Haik later assassinates Saranson.]]
81	%%* GloriousLeader
82	%%* GoodOlBoy
83	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Subverted. He has a wife, but he doesn't like her and rarely sees her.
84	* ExpyCoexistence: He's clearly based on Huey Long, but Long is also mentioned a few times in the book and compared to Windrip.
85	* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: His most trusted advisor, Lee Saranson, [[spoiler: nearly assassinates him, then sends him into exile in France.]]
86	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Despite all the oppression and atrocities he brought about, he spends the rest of his life in peaceful exile in France.]]
87	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: He's an exaggerated version of UsefulNotes/HueyLong.
88	* PuppetKing: It's heavily implied that Saranson is really pulling the strings.
89	* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler:When he lives as an exile in France.]]
90	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Thanks to the regime's propaganda.
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92	!!Lee Saranson
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94	Secretary of State under President Windrip and the creator of much of the regime's policies and propaganda.
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96	* AssholeVictim: His death is not much mourned.
97	* TheBard: He writes many of the propaganda songs used in Windrip's presidential campaign, and later his regime.
98	* BondageIsBad: Later in the book, he lives with several handsome young Corpos and engages in BDSM with them.
99	-->He was either angry with his young friends, and then he whipped them, or he was in a paroxysm of apology to them, and caressed their wounds.
100	* TheCaligula: Upon [[spoiler: seizing power from Windrip in a coup]], he has lavish, debauched parties with handsome young men.
101	* ClubKid: The novel mentions that he visits a "handsome boys' club".
102	%%* DepravedHomosexual
103	* TheDragon: To Windrip.
104	** DragonInChief: It's heavily implied that he is the real power behind Windrip.
105	** [[spoiler: DragonAscendant: After exiling Windrip and seizing power.]]
106	* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler: He, [=Macgoblin=], and Haik walk into Windrip's bedroom at night. Saranson raises a knife to stab Windrip, but Windrip begs for his life and reminds Saranson of kindnesses he did for him. Saranson cannot bring himself to kill Windrip, and exiles him instead.]]
107	* KarmicDeath: After seizing power in a coup, Haik [[spoiler: assassinates him and seizes power himself.]]
108	%%* LaserGuidedKarma
109	* TheManBehindTheMan: Implied to be the man behind Windrip.
110	* MeetTheNewBoss: Nothing really changes after he exiles Windrip and takes power.
111	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: He's an American Ernst Röhm. [[spoiler:One who ''really was'' plotting against his leader, too.]]
112	* RevolvingDoorRevolution: He's assassinated shortly after taking power from his predecessor in a coup.
113	* TheStarscream: To Windrip.
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115	!!Colonel Dewey Haik
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117	Secretary of War for the Windrip regime.
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119	* ControlFreak: [[spoiler: After assassinating Saranson and rising to power]], he kicks out army officers "who could not endure marching and going thirsty" and runs the nation "like a well-run plantation".
120	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Haik seems to disapprove of greed. [[spoiler: After his rise to power]], he kicks out M.M. commissioners "who had garnered riches too easily and too obviously."
121	** He also disapproved of the brazen sensuality of [[spoiler: Saranson's short-lived regime]]. He replaced his predecessor's orgies with tasteful White House parties hosted by his wife.
122	* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: After assassinating Saranson and taking power, his brutality drives many Americans into open rebellion against the regime.]]
123	* ReignOfTerror: [[spoiler: Things were bad under Windrip and Saranson, but life under Haik proves even ''worse''. Most dissenters are killed rather than incarcerated.]]
124	* TheStarscream: To Windrip, and later Saranson. Macgoblin even tries to warn Saranson that Haik is bad news.
125	-->"You want to watch that cuss Haik, Lee," said Macgoblin. "He's ambitious, he's a gorilla, and he's a pious Puritan, and that's a triple combination I'm scared of. The troops like him."
126	* StraightEdgeEvil: The "pious Puritan" to his preceeding bosses' hedonistic depravity. In contrast, his reign is marked not by greedy looting and corruption but by brutality, purges, and ruling the nation "like a well-run plantation."
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128	!!Dr. Hector Macgoblin
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130	Secretary of Education and Propaganda for the Windrip regime.
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132	* TheBard: He and Saranson co-write a few propaganda songs.
133	* TheExile: After [[spoiler: Haik assassinates Saranson, he flees to Haiti and lives in the mountains.]]
134	* GoingNative: [[spoiler: After fleeing to Haiti.]]
135	-->[[spoiler: When last seen, he was living high up in the mountains of Haiti, wearing only a singlet, dirty white-drill trousers, grass sandals, and a long tan beard; very healthy and happy, occupying a one-room hut with a lovely native girl, practicing modern medicine and studying ancient voodoo.]]
136	* [[spoiler: KarmaHoudini]]: [[spoiler:He lives happily ever after in Haiti.]]
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder: Minute Men]]
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141	!!Oscar "Shad" Ledue
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143	A bitter, lazy hired man employed by the Jessups to care for their grounds. He later joins the Minute Men and rises to power in their ranks.
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145	%%* AssholeVictim
146	* [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Attempted Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil]]: He gets a little too friendly with Sissy one night, but she flees in horror before he can sexually assault her.
147	%%* BlackShirt
148	* TheBully: As an M.M.
149	* CrustyCaretaker: He's kind of this while working for the Jessops.
150	* DirtyBusiness: The novel implies that he feels guilt over some of the unjust acts of the Corpos. After [[spoiler: Mary's husband's death]], he cannot make eye contact with Mary. Similarly, when testifying against Doremus, he looks down, his usual cockiness gone.
151	%%* {{Jerkass}}
152	%%* JerkJock
153	* KarmicDeath: After he is imprisoned at the Trianon camp, his old victims vow revenge. [[spoiler: Several of the prisoners set fire to his room, and Shad burns to death, screaming.]]
154	* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler:Killed with fire.]]
155	%%* LaserGuidedKarma
156	%%* LowerClassLout
157	%%* SmugSnake
158	* VillainousCrush: On Sissy. While initially unnerved by Shad's crush, Sissy uses it to her advantage, pretending to befriend Shad in order to get information.
159	[[/folder]]
160
161	[[folder: Other Characters]]
162
163	!!Lorinda Pike
164
165	The manager of the Beulah Valley Tavern with a history of social activism. Doremus' closest friend, lover, and co-conspirator.
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167	* BettyAndVeronica: The Veronica to Emma's Betty. She's smart, outspoken, and activist-minded.
168	%%* BrainyBrunette
169	* HeroOfAnotherStory: The novel refers to the resistance activities she engages in behind the scenes.
170	* PairTheSmartOnes: With Doremus.
171	* RescueArc: When she arranges to [[spoiler: have Doremus rescued from the Trianon camp and spirited away to Canada.]]
172	%%* [[TheSmartGuy The Smart Gal]]
173	* SympatheticAdulterer: She and Doremus have been having an ongoing affair. Their relationship is a loving, passionate one between intellectual equals, and the novel encourages readers to approve of the affair.
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175	!!Senator Walt Trowbridge
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177	Buzz Windrip's opponent in the presidential election. After he loses the election, the Windrip regime places him under house arrest. With the help of Canadian forces, he flees to Canada and heads a resistance movement.
178	* BigGood: Of an overarching sort to Americans opposed to Windrip. He doesn't appear personally once he escapes, but he serves as a face for the resistance to both downtrodden Americans and the Canadian government.
179	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Despite being fairly anemic during the election, Trowbridge's escape is portrayed as a well-struck blow against the Corpo state. He manages to abscond to Canada right under Windrip's nose with a fair amount of loyal military personnel and materiel in tow, after which he becomes the de facto head of the American government in exile.
180	* TheExile: The first of many following Windrip's inauguration, and the most prominent.
181	* GovernmentInExile: The core of one in Canada.
182	* NobleFugitive: The primary pretender to the presidencey.
183	!!Karl Pascal
184
185	A communist mechanic with a very rose-colored view of communist Russia. Later, one of Doremus' cellmates at the Trianon camp.
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187	* TheFundamentalist: He is a zealous communist, insisting that communism is the answer to Windrip's fascism despite evidence to the contrary.
188	%%* SmugSnake
189
190	[[/folder]]

Context Characters / ItCantHappenHere