I Know This Much Is True

The focus of the novel and the source of much of its conflict, Dominick’s twin, Thomas, is older by only a few minutes. Their births, however, happen to occur not just on separate days but also in separate decades—on either side of the dividing line between December 31, 1949, and January 1, 1950. This creates a symbolic distance between them, indicating how different they grow up to be. As a child and an adolescent, Thomas is shy and reserved, cautious around people he does not know. Teachers repeatedly describe him as sweet, suggesting that he has a kind nature and a wholesome, innocent spirit. Concettina celebrates and encourages the kind and sensitive qualities that Thomas possesses—qualities that others view as feminine. The two develop a special bond, as they are alike in their reserved demeanors. As Thomas ages, however, this shyness shifts to a strangeness that Thomas’s peers quickly label as negative: Thomas lacks confidence and has difficulty asserting himself. When he faces challenges, even small ones, he panics. He is highly dependent on others to smooth the way for him, a task that falls on his mother and brother. This lack of independence frustrates Dominick, who considers Thomas weak. As his twin, however, Dominick views Thomas as an extension of himself and as his mirror.

As a teen, Thomas becomes rigid in his habits and unwilling to break rules—evidenced by him chastising Dominick for smoking marijuana. He desires to please Ray, but his meek qualities, coupled with the manifestation of his mental health condition, stand in the way of this. Though he is not able to vocalize it, he desperately loves Dominick and increasingly depends on him as his illness takes hold.

Under the control of his schizophrenia, Thomas is subject to delusions, specifically the belief that he has been chosen by God to save humanity by preventing wars. Though this notion has no truth, it nonetheless is an indication of Thomas’s kind spirit—he seeks peace in all things and has a deep desire to act in promotion of the greater good. His death, if viewed as intentional, can be interpreted in multiple ways: He may have found the burden of protecting humanity too much to bear, or he may have believed that by selflessly sacrificing himself, he would be able to save others.

Concettina, Dominick and Thomas’s mother, is recently deceased in the present-day portions of the novel. A deeply religious person, she reveres her father and regards him as an honorable man—stressing to her sons that their lives are richer due to the efforts of the immigrant grandfather they never met. She is a kind and loving mother who cares deeply for both of her sons but has a special bond with Thomas, whose social isolation is a result of his sensitive nature. While Ray views this sensitivity as feminine and thus weak, Concettina celebrates it and seeks to protect Thomas. Her closeness to him is at times a source of anger for Dominick—as he views her as smothering him in a manner that only makes Thomas weaker—and at other times a source of jealousy, as Dominick longs for the special connection that their mother shares with Thomas.

Indeed, Concettina is portrayed as a passive person who is first berated by her father and then abused verbally by Ray during their marriage. She submits to male authority and never challenges it—it is this submission that frustrates and angers Dominick when he is an adult: He is frequently both angered and saddened by his mother’s inability to stand up for herself. Likewise, the reverence that Concettina holds for her father later frustrates Dominick when he reads his grandfather’s memoir and learns that he was a selfish man who treated Concettina cruelly. Dominick feels that Concettina has been duped into believing her father to be an honorable man worthy of respect when, in truth, he was full of spite and hatred toward Concettina, certain that she was not his biological daughter.

The promise that Dominick makes to Concettina as she dies—to care for Thomas in her absence—proves burdensome. Dominick loves and respects his mother but is angry with her for enabling Thomas’s weak traits and living her life as a willing victim.

The husband of Concettina, Ray undergoes dramatic growth by the end of the novel. When Dominick and Thomas are young, Ray is an authoritarian and at times abusive father, berating the boys, especially Thomas, for any perceived weakness. Ray, having served in two major wars, is hardened to the world and abides by an extreme version of traditional masculinity in which men are to be the financial providers but also the domineering heads of household. Instances when Thomas in particular behaves in ways that Ray deems effeminate cause Ray to fly into a rage. He views the world as a cold, harsh place and feels that one must prepare for this harshness by being hardened themselves. He uses this rationale to justify his verbal and physical abuse of his wife and sons. 

When Dominick and Thomas are adults and their mother has passed away, Ray remains a fixture in their lives. He remains hardworking but reserved. Thomas’s mental health condition makes him uncomfortable, and he avoids visiting him. In the latter portion of the novel, however, Thomas’s death—and Dominick’s confrontation of Ray over his abuse—causes Ray to change. He softens, opening up to Dominick about the trauma that he himself experienced as a child and acknowledging the ways he has wronged the twins by abusing them. Though, at the time, he believed that his actions were necessary, he acknowledges that he was wrong and that he caused harm. The love he holds for his sons becomes apparent, and he and Dominick go on to develop a meaningful connection that they have never before shared.