My Dark Vanessa

Jacob Strane is Vanessa’s English teacher, and his Honors American Literature class is the backdrop against which their relationship develops. His characterization throughout the novel takes place through Vanessa’s eyes, and the reader can trace their entire relationship from the beginning to the end. When Vanessa first meets Strane, she notices his large size and his charismatic presence in the classroom. Strane, a Harvard graduate, is well-respected by his colleagues, which allows Vanessa to assume he is trustworthy. Strane also identifies himself as a lover of literature, a loner, and an outsider, characteristics that appeal to Vanessa for her own identification with such descriptors.

Strane’s character exists in a liminal zone between static and dynamic, and this choice on the part of the author of the novel emphasizes the complex nature of his relationship with Vanessa and her inability to experience him as an abuser. Strane both stays the same and changes as Vanessa grows older; his eventual decision to take his own life rather than sustain the humiliation of exposure as a sex offender is perhaps the biggest change in his character. Strane evades simple characterization, which enables the reader to appreciate Vanessa’s confusion as well as her inability to experience Strane as entirely abusive or entirely loving.

Strane’s attraction to Vanessa both wanes and maintains throughout the novel. At Browick, Strane’s attachment to Vanessa appears to weaken when he realizes that their relationship is garnering attention from other students and faculty. The fact that he allows the school to expel Vanessa reflects his ruthlessness, but the continuation of the relationship when she is 18 at college reflects a needy attachment to her. As Vanessa continues to mature and grow into a woman, however, Strane loses sexual interest in her, preferring to remember her as the young teenager that he desired so passionately.

Jenny Murphy is Vanessa’s former roommate and best friend from ninth grade. At the start of the novel, Jenny and Vanessa are both sophomores, and they live in the same dorm, but they are not on speaking terms; months earlier, at the end of their freshman year at Browick, their friendship was unable to survive a dramatic conflict. Vanessa’s grief over the loss of her friendship with Jenny subsides as she grows closer to Strane; eventually, Vanessa feels nothing at all for Jenny, which indicates the strength of Strane’s power over Vanessa’s emotional life. Thanks to Jenny, who knows Vanessa well despite their estrangement, the relationship between Vanessa and Strane becomes public knowledge.

Jenny functions as a foil to Vanessa. Unlike her, Jenny enjoys a close relationship with her parents, and she carries herself in a secure and confident manner. Jenny is in an age-appropriate relationship with her boyfriend, Tom, who is also the same Honors American Literature class as Vanessa and Jenny. The presence of Jenny and Tom in Strane’s English class emphasizes to the reader the unmistakable inappropriateness of Vanessa and Strane’s relationship. 

Taylor Birch is a young woman who comes forward at the start of the novel to expose Strane as a sexual predator. She is younger than Vanessa, and, like Vanessa, Taylor first meets Strane in his English class at Browick. Vanessa and Taylor share vulnerable qualities that attract Strane and emphasize his characterization as a sexual predator. The differences between Taylor and Vanessa, however, enable Vanessa to maintain a sense of superiority over Taylor, who never had a sexual relationship with Strane. The relative chasteness of Strane’s attentions to Taylor give Vanessa a false sense of confidence that her relationship with Strane was singular.

Taylor Birch is a minor character in the novel, but she represents an important group of young women in American society today: abuse victims who come forward to confront their attackers. Taylor’s most important characteristic is her courage and her willingness to face the reality of Strane’s abuse. Vanessa’s obsessive interest in Taylor reveals the parts of Vanessa that are not yet ready to do what Taylor has done by accusing Strane of sexual abuse, but at the end of the novel, Taylor and Vanessa have a conversation that provides some closure.