When the Jessamine Grows

Rudean McBride is Ennis’s father, Joetta’s father-in-law, and Henry and Robert’s grandfather. Rudean is a proud man who is passionate about the Confederate cause and talks to his grandsons about the glory of the war and owning a plantation with enslaved laborers. Ennis reveals that Rudean did not work much and ordered his mother around frequently. Rudean’s behavior led his daughters to find husbands and move out as soon as they could, and after getting an enslaved man named Ezra from a card game and, after Ezra was driven to exhaustion and Ennis was punished for helping him, Rudean’s wife Anna secretly set Ezra free. Rudean is extremely racist against Black people, pushing rhetoric to Henry and Joetta that if Lincoln frees enslaved Black people, Black men will start assaulting white women. Ennis and Joetta are disgusted by this rhetoric and call him out for saying those things. Rudean also frequently butts heads with and says hurtful things to Joetta, having a mean-spirited side to him. Rudean’s pride and carelessness also leads him to tell men in town about Joetta giving water to Union soldiers, for which the men trample her crops. His overt welcome to the Confederate soldiers when they are searching for Charlie then leads them to steal all the family’s livestock.

Despite his flaws, however, Rudean shows degrees of compassion and loyalty throughout the novel. He encourages Ennis to go after Henry and bring him home because he is too young and, on Christmas 1861, gives Joetta a painted wooden bluebird he made—a gift which she cherishes. He also becomes protective of Charlie after learning his story and even stays behind on the farm after Harold threatens to tell on Joetta, Robert, and Charlie, telling the three to leave for Joetta’s parents’ home. He is also revealed to regret his glorification of war after Ennis’s presumed death and tells Joetta about the vegetable garden Anna had. He develops tuberculosis around the time the house is destroyed and steadily deteriorates before succumbing to the disease after Charlie rejoins them.

Robert McBride is Joetta and Ennis’s younger son, Henry’s younger brother, Charlie’s older adoptive brother, and Rudean’s grandson. Robert contrasts his brother Henry early in the novel in that even though he is interested in his grandfather’s stories as well, he is still more influenced by and devoted to his parents. Robert especially looks up to his father Ennis and agrees that Henry should deal with the choice he made and their father should not follow him. When Ennis goes to find Henry at Joetta’s request, Robert becomes dejected and sullen. He blames Joetta for his father being gone, and as her neutrality causes the townspeople to retaliate, he becomes even more angry and resentful of her. He desires male camaraderie that he lacks with Henry and Ennis gone and him and his family isolated due to the war and Joetta’s neutrality. His loneliness drives him to Rudean and the Caldwells, especially Harold, however, when he learns that Thomas ran he and his mother off the road and followed them home, he leaves the Caldwells and returns to his mother’s home. His wish to help his mother also brings him back.

Though initially jealous of the attention Joetta gives Charlie, Robert seeks Charlie’s friendship and brotherly camaraderie and he protects him when the soldiers search for him. They quickly become close, with Robert taking the role of the older brother and Charlie taking the role of the younger brother. Robert is also a skilled hunter and fisher, which helps his family survive when their livestock is stolen and their house is destroyed. Charlie’s influence and getting a better understanding of Joetta’s neutrality also allows him to reconcile with her, and he becomes devoted to the family again.

Charlie Hastings is Joetta and Ennis’s adopted son, Robert’s adoptive brother, and Rudean’s adoptive grandson. Charlie Hastings is a boy from Virginia whose mother was shot and killed after she helped a Confederate soldier in a fight. The Union then took him and made him a drummer for the dying soldiers. For this reason, the other Union soldiers in his infantry believed he was an omen and started calling him “Hasty.” They also avoided him, worrying he would cause them to die soon. Three years after being with the Union, he ran away until he was in North Carolina. Joetta finds him with vermin in his socks and uniform and she burns them before having him bathe. She also protects him from the Confederate soldiers and treats his malaria. He feels guilty for the effects that the McBrides’ kindness to him has had. This leads him to leave Joetta and Robert with the intention of going to Virginia. However, realizing he has nothing there, he stays nearby and kills possums and chickens for the family. He also saves Joetta by killing Miller. He wants to reciprocate the McBrides’ kindness and helps them survive with his hunting and shooting skills. He is shy and quiet and often goes along with Robert’s plans. He also struggles with trusting others but soon grows to trust the McBrides.

Charlie forms a strong mother-son relationship with Joetta, who is determined to protect him no matter what and defends him to the townspeople before their presumed death and exile. At the end of the novel, he starts calling Joetta his mother and Ennis hopes he will call Ennis his father. This leads to Ennis adopting Charlie as his son. He also forms a brotherly bond with Robert, hunting and fishing with him regularly and helping each other with the vegetable garden and the rebuilding of the cabin.