White Smoke

Sammy is Marigold’s younger brother, the son of Raquel and Chay, and the stepbrother of Piper. He is a bright and curious middle schooler who agrees with Marigold that their Maplewood house is haunted; he is inventive and has the idea to set up the GoPro cameras to “catch” the ghost late in the narrative. He also shares Marigold’s opposition to Piper, thinking that Piper is not just difficult and bratty but potentially dangerous when it appears she might be at fault for the severe allergic reaction that puts him in the hospital. Sammy is loyal and shows his strong alliance with Marigold several times, including after the “ghost” appears to steal his voice to call Marigold; when Raquel and Alec refuse to believe them, Sammy claims he will return to California with Marigold to live with their father, Chay, furthering his loyalty toward his sister.

Piper is Alec’s 10-year-old daughter and stepsister to Marigold and Sammy. She is an antagonist to Marigold for most of the novel. She can be bratty and challenging. For example, she smiles when she tattles on Marigold and Sammy and has no regret when she makes up lies to get Marigold in trouble. However, Yusef and Tamara believe that Piper is misunderstood and traumatized in her own way. Indeed, when Piper was in first grade, her grandmother died; Piper came home from school and watched TV with the dead body for hours, not understanding that she was dead until Alec arrived.

While Piper is a nuisance to Marigold, she has a caring nature toward others. Central to the plot, Piper sees Ms. Suga in the house and befriends the elderly woman; Piper also provides food for Mrs. Suga and Jon Jon, keeping their presence a secret from her family. She is apologetic when the enraged neighbors use the discovery of Jon Jon and Ms. Suga as an excuse to burn empty houses during the climactic scenes. However, Marigold, taking kindly to Piper after seeing things from her perspective, tells her she should not punish herself for an honest mistake. Piper is a round, dynamic character who has complex and changing feelings about The Dynamics and Challenges Within Blended Families.

Yusef Brown is a high-school junior and a handsome Maplewood resident who shares Marigold’s interest in gardening. He is attracted to her because she does not try to initiate a relationship with him, unlike many girls at school. He lives with his “Unc,” Mr. Brown, and Pop Pop, his grandfather. Yusef’s father is in prison for drug possession, which makes Yusef bitter about Marigold’s use of marijuana. When he finds out that Marigold uses it for anxiety, he is unsympathetic and disagrees with her. Despite this, he cares enough about her to offer help when she needs it, such as the night she falls unconscious outside the house. When Yusef sees that Marigold is growing marijuana, however, he shuts her out; this displays his sense of morality. Once Marigold explains her backstory with addiction, he again grows sympathetic and tries to convince her that she is still deserving of good things. Yusef is a complex and dynamic character; his changes of heart throughout the narrative show his sensitivity and empathy.

Ms. Suga is Carmen Peoples, a Black woman married to Joe Peoples and mother to their five children including Jon Jon. When Joe won the lottery, he bought five more houses on Maple Street so that each child could have a house near their parents. Carmen and Joe lived in the house Marigold’s family currently occupies. Joe constructed tunnels under the yards and streets so that all the houses were connected. He also bought a bakery for his wife’s business, hence the community’s nickname for her, Ms. Suga. When developers wanted the houses after Joe’s death, Ms. Suga refused; when mobsters associated with the developers convinced neighborhood children to tell lies about Jon Jon, Maplewood residents set fire to his house, the one currently boarded up next to Marigold’s. Everyone in Maplewood believed that Jon Jon and Ms. Suga perished in the fire, but they used the tunnel to escape and lived secretly in the basement of Marigold’s house ever since. As characters, they contribute to Community Memory and Its Generational Impact.

Ms. Suga knows about Marigold’s marijuana use and wants her gone from “her” house. She acts maliciously, using a tape recorder to fake Sammy’s voice, and steals things that belong to contractors and family members. She manipulates Piper, pretending to befriend her but saying things to instigate friction between family members. She also purposely puts peanut butter in Sammy’s oatmeal, endangering his life. 

Jon Jon is initially characterized in a negative light, as someone who molested children and used and sold drugs. This caused an angry mob of neighbors to set his house on fire. However, the narrative later reveals that the children falsely accused Jon Jon of sexual abuse due to Russo mobsters urging them to do so, casting him in a more sympathetic light. In the narrative present, Jon Jon displays non-violence as he realizes his mother should not hurt others. He also insinuates that he feels guilt over the death of Seth Reed, implying that he and his mother were responsible for his death. To assuage his guilt, he helps Marigold find Piper when the residents again attempt to burn his house. Ms. Suga goes to the hospital during the climactic events, but Marigold does not know Jon Jon’s fate as he disappears into the burning house. Both Jon Jon and Ms. Suga have complex characterizations in the narrative and their backstory.

Mr. Sterling heads the Sterling Foundation, an organization that says it is dedicated to helping Cedarville with improvement projects. The foundation, however, has a board of directors that are each connected to other businesses or organizations (including some connections to organized crime) that will profit from Maplewood’s destruction and rebirth as a more affluent community with high-end businesses, restaurants, cultural centers, and a light rail. Marigold is privy to its “To the Future” campaign because of her mother’s position as the foundation’s “Grow Where You Live” artist-in-residence. She later discovers the illicit, deliberate push toward the profitable gentrification of Maplewood by researching the board members’ backgrounds and Maplewood’s troubled history. As a character, Mr. Sterling contributes to Using the Horror Lens to Explore and Amplify Societal Issues, as he is a driving force in the novel’s gentrification plot. As a result, he is an antagonist.

Jon Jon and Mr. Watson imply late in the novel that Mr. Sterling knew that Jon Jon and Ms. Suga were alive and prompted them to scare the family and further incite rumors and friction in the community. Mr. Sterling is largely responsible for rallying the mob to set fire to Maplewood’s abandoned houses during the climactic events. He desires that the residents themselves carry out the demolition of their neighborhood, making it impossible for many families to rebuild or remain; this will pave the way for the profitable development he seeks. Mr. Sterling is a flat, static character, who does not change or grow throughout the narrative.