A Corner of the Universe

The enthusiastic, intense, fast-talking, I Love Lucy uberfan, Adam shakes up the relatively staid lives of the Mercer and Owen families. Adam is 21 years old, but Hattie has trouble seeing him as an adult because Adam is not much taller than Hattie and “doesn’t seem like a grown-up, exactly” (41). Since he was 12, Adam has lived at a “special school” because he is autistic or “mentally ill”—although Hattie is not sure what those labels mean. Her parents whisper that Adam is “unpredictable” and “erratic,” though Adam brings a smile to all their faces.

Adam’s moods fluctuate wildly from the heights of joy to the depths of sadness and cover everything in between—including emotions Hattie finds frightening, like terror and rage. Intelligent and deeply perceptive, Adam understands people’s inner qualities and characteristics, comparing Mr. Penny to the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, and recognizing a kindred spirit in Hattie. Adam is also profoundly and painfully aware of the differences that set him apart from others. He is hurt when Nancy and Janet mock him, frustrated when Nana and others expect him to conform to their cultural norms, and angry when others treat him as a child. His attraction to Angel Valentine shows he has adult desires. But Adam’s attempts at acting like others—like wearing a winter suit and uprooting a bouquet for Angel Valentine—just make his differences stand out so sharply that Adam feels that he is truly an alien. He knows that he cannot change himself to meet social expectations, and so will never dispel the social isolation he experiences—one of the underlying reasons for his suicide. Adam’s cry of “Happiness! Happiness” and his cheerful “Oh, ho, ho, ho!” resound in Hattie’s mind long after his death. Hattie knows how much Adam loved life and embraces his lesson of living life to the fullest.

Nana, Hattie’s grandmother, is big on keeping up appearances. She and her husband have worked hard to become Millerton’s preeminent citizens, with an impeccable social pedigree. Nana and Papa live in a mansion—the second largest house in Millerton—attended by servants. Nana looks down on Hattie’s dad because, while he did go to Yale, he is socially inferior to the Mercers.

Nana is not the cozy, kindly, comfortable type of grandmother of Hattie’s dreams. Instead, Nana is prim, rules-based, and focused on propriety: a product of her generation and of her wealthy family. Nana’s posture is perfect, and she is always well dressed. She rarely shows emotion or weakness. Nana expects Hattie to follow her rules: wearing gloves like a young lady should and showing respect. She even serves their Fourth of July picnic fare on fine china.

As Hattie says, “Nana is the queen” (114): Nana likes to take control of every situation, but she has a hard time controlling Adam. Despite her attempts to hold Adam to “party manners,” Adam does not fit into Nana’s perfect world. Hattie thinks Nana sent Adam away to school and kept him a secret because she is ashamed and embarrassed by him: Adam represents Nana’s failure as a mother, though all of Nana’s children failed her in different ways. Hattie at first thinks Nana does not care about Adam’s feelings, but Nana’s restrained tears and aborted attempts to reach out to him reveal that Nana does care. Rather, Nana does not know how to love Adam, or how to lift up the corners of her universe and show her love.

A wealthy lawyer, Papa carries a lot of weight in the community. His status and money get Adam released from the hospital and inspire the police to search for Adam soon after he goes missing. Papa, like Nana, values public opinion. He also tries—and fails—to get Adam to respect the rules of decorum. He loses his temper when Adam does things like deliberately slurping dessert and stealing frosting roses. Papa also has trouble expressing emotion, but he loves Adam in his own unexpressive way. As Papa runs after the police taking Adam to the ambulance, he gets dust on his fancy shoes, showing that concern for his son supersedes his concern for appearances. Later, his grief over Adam’s suicide reveals that he, despite his status, is no different from others. Papa retreats into himself, using alcohol to help numb his emotions surrounding Adam’s loss.

Because Mom is stuck in the middle between her parents’ wishes and the needs of her family, Hattie is torn between admiring her mom and being angry at her. As Nana’s daughter, Mom was born into wealth and status, which she rejected by choosing middle-class Jonathan as her husband. Mom defied Nana’s wishes to marry her soul mate, and to add insult to Nana’s injury, now works beside her servants in their home-turned-boardinghouse. Hattie sees that Mom can be brave and stand up to Nana for big issues, but seems to give into Nana’s wishes on all the small things. Hattie also observes that although Mom protests about dressing up for their girls’ lunches at Nana, Mom enjoys being “Nana’s princess.”

Mom is not brave when it comes to Adam. She follows Nana’s mandates to keep Adam a secret, and to refrain from visiting him at his school. Although at first Hattie is not sure about her mom’s feelings towards Adam, Mom clearly loves her younger brother: Each week for nine years, she mailed him a different little gift, photos, and letters. Mom painfully admits that Adam was “very hard to love” (169), but admires his bravery, and also learns from him the importance of enjoying life.

Artistic and industrious, Dad is a gentle support in Hattie’s life. Dad is skilled in many different artistic media: filmmaking, popup greeting cards, photography, and painting. Dad works hard around the boardinghouse, too, gardening and fixing things. Sure that “my father can do anything” (9), Hattie resents Nana’s snobbish opinion that Dad is socially beneath them. Dad is proud that he can support his family and pursue his artistic career by operating the boardinghouse. He refuses to accept the gift of a new car from wealthy Nana and Papa, since “they are not a charity case” (14). Dad recognizes Nana’s disapproval, but ignores it, quietly maintaining his dignity and willing to speak up if pushed too far. Dad is emotionally perceptive: He understands Hattie’s dislike of Nana, her need for routine, and her feelings about Nancy and Janet. Dad loves filming family events on his movie camera, but as Hattie knows, Dad only captures the good times. He has as much trouble communicating as Mom and the rest of the Mercer family.

As the niece of the famous Fred Carmel, owner of the famous Fred Carmel’s Funtime Carnival, Leila is used to accepting others’ differences. She, her little brother Lamar, and the rest of her family travel across the United States with the carnival, so she is eager to be friends with Hattie. Like Hattie’s, Leila’s life is untraditional. Both participate in their family businesses, and have an extended “family” of individuals who are not blood relations but who are very close: Hattie has the boarders, whom she views as family, and Leila is close to the all the performers in the carnival. Like Hattie, Leila accepts Adam’s differences without judgment. Leila is warm-hearted, kind, and accepting, showing that Nana’s negative stereotype of “circus” people is false.

Aging gracefully if reluctantly, the elderly Miss Hagerty has lived in the boarding house since before Hattie was born. Soft, plump, and perfumed, Miss Hagerty is the comfortable grandmother figure in Hattie’s life. Miss Hagerty clearly loves Hattie: On her dresser, Miss Hagerty keeps framed photos of Hattie taken on each one of her birthdays. Miss Hagerty provides a sympathetic listening ear for Hattie and for Adam, who seems to calm down when he talks with Miss Hagerty and Mr. Penny. Miss Hagerty has lots of advice about relationships and fashion, but does not have a lot of information for Hattie about Adam. No one ever told Miss Hagerty exactly what was wrong with Adam, so all she can tell Hattie is that Adam is “mentally ill.”

Mr. Penny’s room at the boarding house is filled with clocks that keep perfect time. He is a retired clock repairman, and always seems to be busily coming and going. Although not particularly fond of children, he approves of Hattie because she is responsible. Mr. Penny also knew Adam when he was young, and Hattie sees that Adam’s joyful greeting makes even the serious Mr. Penny almost smile.

Beautiful, chic, ambitious, cosmopolitan, and always smartly dressed, like “one of those Dobie Gillis girls” (7), the husky-voiced Angel Valentine is the big sister Hattie wishes she had—at least at the start of the story. Angel has plans to advance beyond her job as bank secretary and work in a big city someday. Angel takes Adam’s exuberance in stride and Hattie loves her for not appearing to notice his differences. But when Adam shows an untoward interest in Angel’s bosom, Angel feels uncomfortable with Adam’s avid attention. Hattie’s view of Angel changes when Angel breaks house rules and has her boyfriend over. After Adam discovers them together, he kills himself, and Hattie blames Angel for Adam’s death. Even though Hattie acknowledges this feeling is wrong, she has yet to speak to Angel at the end of the novel. Angel represents “normal,” adult sexuality and relationships—something that Adam tragically thinks he cannot achieve.

The two girls are carbon-copy bullies, out to mock and harass people they perceive as different, like Hattie and Adam. They make Hattie’s days in school unpleasant, make fun of her at the nine-and-ten-year-old dance, and insultingly label Adam a freak. Nancy and Janet represent the status quo, its emphasis on “normalcy,” and the stigmatization of mental illness. By addressing Nancy and Janet directly at Adam’s funeral, Hattie shames their small-mindedness and takes her power back from them. Hattie no longer cares what Nancy and Janet think: “they are not part of my universe” (168).