Hush

Cameron Green is Toswiah’s older sister. The girls are close in age—with Cameron being a year older. The elder is very different from Toswiah. She is popular and social, having been on her school’s cheerleading team in Denver. She also had a brief romantic relationship with Officer Randall’s son, Joseph. In her new life, Cameron adopts the name “Anna Thomas.”

Cameron is the most vocally opposed to the family’s relocation, as she will be leaving many friends and Joseph behind. She expresses her frustration without abandon, crying and screaming openly and frequently. This expressiveness is a sign of her strong personality. When the family arrives in their new home, Cameron finds a way to cope: She studies with the goal of getting into Simon’s Rock College, her ticket out of her new life. Though social by nature, Cameron does not make close friends in her new home, as she is determined to leave. She refuses to let herself or her history be erased, making the bold (albeit reckless) decision to disclose her past in her admissions essay.

Cameron’s fighting spirit contrasts with Toswiah’s caution: Where Toswiah briefly stops running following their father’s suicide attempt, Cameron’s resolve to leave only grows stronger. The latter’s assertion that running will set the former free, coupled with her leaving home soon, convinces Toswiah that she, too, needs something to hold onto.

Jonathan Green is Toswiah and Cameron’s father. In Denver, he was a policeman, a job he chose because of his family’s affinity for the law—his father was a lawyer, and his grandfather a judge. Upon witnessing his colleagues shooting and killing a Black boy, Jonathan decides to testify against them, changing the trajectory of his family’s lives forever. Upon relocation, Jonathan adopts the name “Evan Thomas.”

Being a Black man in a largely white city, race is an important part of Jonathan’s identity. However, being a policeman is also important to him. His strong belief in justice is further ignited by the police department awarding him the Medal for Bravery, and seeing his daughters in the audience. However, both aspects of Jonathan’s identity are threatened by the shooting. As a Black man, as well as someone who believes in justice, he is unable to ignore his colleagues’ actions. Still, testifying against his colleagues involves him breaking the police’s unspoken code. Jonathan’s loyalty to the police is strong enough to elicit conflict, despite having done the right thing in contributing to Officers Randall and Dennis’s sentencing.

Jonathan’s character arc is a demonstration of the theme of The Role of Community in Coping with Trauma. The loss of his community, in addition to the dissolution of his old identity and his disillusionment with justice, send Jonathan into a downward spiral. Jonathan’s mental health worsens over the course of the novel, culminating in a suicide attempt. It is only after he begins receiving medication and therapy that he returns to a semblance of his former self. This recovery speaks to the family’s bright future.

Shirley Green is Toswiah and Cameron’s mother. In Denver, she was a beloved teacher, as well as an excellent cook. However, the family’s move changes Shirley: She unexpectedly turns to religion (specifically, Jehovah’s Witnesses) as a way to cope, and it eventually takes over her life, affecting her attitudes and beliefs.

Shirley is a capable, intelligent woman, with her family having taken great pride in her achievements as a teacher back in Denver. The implication is that she is logical by nature; as such, her children, especially Anna (Cameron), find it difficult to digest her newfound faith. However, being a woman of immense energy and passion, Shirley needs something meaningful to fill the void left by the loss of her vocation. Teaching is as much a part of Shirley’s personal history as law is Jonathan’s, with her mother having been a teacher too. Religion provides the perfect replacement, offering assurance, purpose, and community.

Nevertheless, glimpses of Shirley’s old self remain. She approaches religion with the same passion and rigor characteristic of her role as a teacher, is elated when she finds a job as a teacher again, and accepts Anna leaving for Simon’s Rock. These glimpses indicate that there are still things she values above religion—including a better life for her daughters.

Lulu and Grandma are characters whom the reader only meets through Toswiah’s recollection of them. The former is Toswiah’s best friend, with whom she shares a birthday. Both girls were born in the same hospital, a month early, and were placed next to each other in their incubators. Toswiah and Cameron’s grandmother is left behind during the family’s move, as she is too old for such a drastic change. After the move, both parties keep in touch through letters, despite the fact that they cannot exchange too many details for the family’s safety.

Both Lulu and Grandma are privy to the fact that Toswiah and her family will be relocated after Jonathan’s testimony. They are among Toswiah’s closest relationships, and she misses them the most after the move. She is also connected to them by name: Toswiah shares her name with her grandmother, while she picks her new name, “Evie,” in memory of a jump-rope game she plays with Lulu. The memory of these relationships and the hope of reunion sustain Toswiah in the early days of her new life. In this way, Lulu and Grandma represent both important ties to Toswiah’s past, and the promise of happiness in her future.