Character Study - Witches

Jane Smart: Jane Smart is one of the three main witches in the novel. She is described as the "artistically inclined-a musician" (Updike 21). Updike also states that "Jane was hot, short, concentrated like a pencil point" (Updike 3). Updike's comparison to Jane being hot reminded me of his concentration on Jane's pronunciation of every word she spoke, with every word containing an s being emphasized. The one simile in particular that stood out to me was when he said, "each s seemed the black tip of a just extinguished match" (Updike 1), comparing her speech to something hot and short.

Also, from the way Updike has Jane act in later situations, she could be considered conservative. She often keeps to herself, and shows her emotions to only her two best friends. At one point, after she performs marvelously at one of her cello concerts, Darryl Van Horne just goes on and on about how wonderful she was. Then he later suggests that she didn't put her heart into the piece. Jane is instantaneously quiet, and says nothing to defend herself. She just continues to stand there, with anger slowly building up inside of her from being offended. And finally, her friends even discuss this about her. They mention how

"'She has so much potential....But she wastes herself....It's a terrible waste, a conservatory graduate playing fiddle for a bunch of deaf old biddies in a dilapidated church,' said Alexandra. 'She feels safe here,' Sukie said." Both her friends are concerned that Jane can achieve bigger and better things, but she refuses to go anywhere outside of her comfort zone.'

(Updike 26-27).

Alexandra Spofford: Alexandra is the oldest of the three witches, and probably, in my opinion, the most immature. She initially stood out to me in the beginning of all the three witches. She has this strange obsession with one of her lovers, and even had a tribute to him. He was of Italian heritage, so it was a whole wall of jars of spaghetti sauce. Updike explains it as

"Mason jars of spaghetti sauce, sauce for more spaghetti than she and her children could consume even if bewitched for a hundred years in an Italian fairy tale, jar upon jar lifted steaming from the white-specked blue boiler on the trembling, singing round wire rack"

(Updike 4).

I love this comparison, and it definitely stuck with me throughout the whole novel.
I also found Alexandra to be very territorial; usually with her friends and lovers. One particular moment like this that I remember is when Alexandra is talking to Jane on the phone, Alexandra brings up their usual Thursday plans for hanging out at one of the three friends houses. Jane tells Alexandra that she can't make it, because she is meeting with Darryl. Updike writes

"It made Alexandra angry, to be put on the defensive, when she was the one being snubbed. She told her friend, 'I thought Thursdays were sacred.'"

(Updike 63).

Alexandra automatically gets offended, and becomes curt with Jane.
Another incident where she is territorial is with her lovers. Alexandra would become furious with either Jane or Sukie if they slept with her Italian lover, even though they are strictly a fling. She also is strangely protective of Van Horne, even before she sees him. As soon as she finds out that there is a new neighbor in town, she doesn't stop asking questions about him to others. Also, later in the book, Jane goes over to Van Horne's House. When Alexandra first finds out about it when talking to Jane, she says, "'You actually went??'" (Updike 56) And then later she asks, "'You were alone??'" (Updike 57). Alexandra gets extremely jealous over Jane, because she is so territorial of Darryl Van Horne.

Sukie Rougemont: Sukie is the youngest and most outgoing of all the witches. She has a free spirit, and loves knowing every one's business. She works on the town's newspaper, and is head of the gossip column. Updike describes her appearance as a

"cheerful simian thrust: Sukie's big teeth pushed her profile below the brief nose out in a curve...which was longer and more complex in shape than her lower,..."

(Updike 24).

Sukie's appearance is very complicated, which I think directly related to her personality. We don't hear a whole lot about Sukie, at least not as much as we do about Jane and Alexandra, making her harder to figure out.
Another quality of Sukie is that she isn't afraid to be herself. For example, Sukie is the only witch at first who doesn't act all sweet to Darryl Van Horne. She gives him a piece of her mind, throwing a bit of an attitude in there. She pursues what she wants, and in this case it is answers to the questions she has for Van Horne. Sukie also isn't afraid to offend Van Horne with her questions, going wherever she likes to in her questioning, she's "not ashamed to ask" anything (Updike 50).