Everyone in This Room Will Someday be Dead

Jeff is the priest of Saint Rigobert’s Catholic church where Gilda works. He was close to previous church secretary Grace Moppet and wears a ring she left behind as a memento of their lifelong friendship (27). He’s calm, collected, and rarely shows extreme emotions except in regard to Grace’s death. Gilda suspects he’s Grace’s murderer until she overhears him asking God to bring Grace’s murderer to justice (172-74). Jeff’s outbursts of emotion and violence over Grace’s death add depth to his characterization as a kindly, older religious figure, as does his relationship with Gilda and her ruse. While Jeff is kind to Gilda, his allowance of Barney’s anti-LGBTQ+ biases and spreading of anti-LGBTQ+ pamphlets in the church suggests that his civility is partly due to Gilda’s façade as a heterosexual Catholic woman.

Jeff is a static character who doesn’t change throughout the novel. He symbolizes both the “normalcy” that Gilda is excluded from (as a presumably heterosexual Catholic man) and the marginalized life that Gilda herself lives. Jeff’s home, unlike Gilda or Barney’s, is clean, pristine, and decorated in an inviting manner (171-74). This indicates that he isn’t burdened by Gilda and Barney’s respective struggles. Simultaneously, Gilda learns that priests and nuns live on the margins of society, taking vows of celibacy and being barred from marriage. Gilda sympathizes with priests and nuns, seeing her own struggles as a lesbian in their refusal of heterosexual norms (143-44). Jeff’s ability to represent both normalcy and marginalization comes from priesthood being a choice, whereas Gilda’s sexuality isn’t a choice.

Rosemary is Grace Moppet’s long-distance, long-time friend. She’s an old woman whose husband passes away in Part 2 after 52 years of marriage. Little is revealed about Rosemary outside of her email exchanges with Gilda as Grace: She enjoys baking and swapped recipes with Grace, her family is her primary occupation, and religion is important to her.

Rosemary is a static and flat character who doesn’t change throughout the novel. She’s an idealized version of a gentle old woman who serves two purposes. Firstly, she acts as a foil to Gilda. Rosemary has lived a long, “normative” life, having children and being in a heterosexual marriage; she’s seemingly unconcerned about the meaninglessness of life, even after losing her husband. Secondly, Rosemary’s long, happy life makes breaking the news of Grace’s death feel like an act of injustice. Gilda partakes in a second ruse, impersonating Grace, because she believes Rosemary should live out her remaining years in happiness—despite the latter ultimately finding the ruse hilarious.