Credence

A secondary character in the novel, Jake is an imposingly handsome and cynical middle-aged man who lives in a ranch above the mountainous town of Chapel’s Peak in Colorado. The father of Kaleb and Noah, Jake is also the step-brother of Hannes de Haas, Tiernan’s father. Viewed through Tiernan’s eyes, Jake is described as six foot two inches tall, with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Often depicted shirtless, Jake is the archetype of the older object of female lust. Like most other main characters in the novel, Jake has a complex backstory. The death of his first love, the betrayal by Hannes, and the incarceration of the mother of his children has left Jake somewhat embittered and controlling. As a single father of two willful young men, Jake is a self-made successful entrepreneur who rejected his family’s wealth to carve his own space and create the business Van der Berg Extreme. Because of his past losses, Jake tends to be over-protective of his younger son Noah, and then Tiernan. Jake often worries that Noah will injure himself in racing and the violent, misunderstood Kaleb will end up murdered by the enemies he makes.

When Tiernan enters his life, Jake is torn between his filial and sexual feelings for her. The narrative partly acknowledges the exploitative power dynamic at play in Jake’s sexual desires. The most misogynistic aspect of Jake’s character is that he tends to place the burden of his desire for Tiernan on her. He tempts Tiernan with the promise of a loving home and loyal family, punishes her physically when she refuses to be controlled by him, and has sex with her right after she turns 18. These behaviors show the negative aspects of Jake’s character. He emerges as a morally grey character, an impression which is reiterated by his non-committal treatment of the other, much younger women he dates. However, he also makes sure that Tiernan’s early sexual experience is pleasant and encourages her to apply to college and strike out a new life. As the narrative proceeds, Jake begins to relinquish control over Noah as well, suggesting to Tiernan that she take Noah with her when she leaves. This shows that Jake is also changing, letting go of past grudges and fears. When he realizes that Kaleb and Tiernan are in love, he backs off as Tiernan’s sexual partner and settles in the role of the patriarch. At the end of the novel, Jake is in a stable, age-appropriate relationship with Mirai and frequently travels out of Colorado, which symbolizes his journey away from his closed past self. Like Tiernan, Jake is a dynamic character.

The main romantic lead of the book is Kaleb. Physically, he embodies a typical romantic lead. He is tall, muscled, and handsome, with blonde hair and green eyes. He carries an aura of mystery and violence about him and identifies with animals and nature. Twenty-two years old when the narrative begins, Kaleb works for his father’s business, Van der Berg Extreme. Characters are portrayed as fearful of him or frustrated by him, such as when a shopkeeper warns Jake that Kaleb cannot be controlled. When Tiernan reaches the Van der Berg homestead, Jake tells her in exasperation that Kaleb requires a lot of space. Tiernan’s first meeting with Kaleb shows that the threat Kaleb represents is very real. Kaleb assaults Tiernan, nearly forcing her into sex before his brother intervenes. Thus, Kaleb is an anti-hero who pushes the boundaries of ethics.

Kaleb’s defining feature is his silence. Although he can technically speak, Kaleb has been silent since he was four and left alone in a car for days. The period of isolation and hunger traumatized Kaleb and locked him in a real and metaphorical silence. According to Noah and Jake, Kaleb now uses anger as his mode of communication. Kaleb frequently gets into fights with the townspeople and withdraws to the woods for long periods of solitude. The trigger for Kaleb to change arrives in the form of Tiernan, towards whom he feels simultaneously attracted and resentful. Tiernan notes that Kaleb often watches her and shows her unexpected kindnesses; however, his treatment of Tiernan is mostly abusive. The poor treatment of Tiernan initiates a version of the enemies-to-lovers trope of romance novels. The journey from enemies to lovers provides the narrative much of its tension.

Kaleb’s abusive attitude towards Tiernan worsens as the plot proceeds. However, his journals reveal that his feelings for Tiernan are more tender than she assumed. Tiernan now begins to view Kaleb as a misunderstood hero and ventures out to save him. Kaleb shows a breakthrough moment when he offers a book for Tiernan to read aloud, thus indicating that words will soon break the silence between them. After many twists and turns, Kaleb reunites with Tiernan for good at the end of the novel and, as foreshadowed, ends his silence. His point-of-view sections show a significant shift in his attitude towards Tiernan in particular and women in general, indicating that he is a dynamic, evolving a character.

Noah is Jake’s younger son and Kaleb’s younger brother and represents the rebellion and mischief of youth in the text. He is Kaleb’s foil. Good-looking, blond, and muscular like the other men in his family, Noah is a relatively more easy-going figure, a sunnier version of his father and brother. Apart from Tiernan, Noah has the most dialogue in the novel and often injects a note of playfulness and humor in the proceedings, although the humor is often risqué. For instance, when Tiernan wonders how many “inches are we expecting tonight” (277), referring to snowfall, Noah chuckles, indicating that Tiernan is making a sexual remark about Jake’s penis. Such instances show that Noah often helps diffuse the tension in the Van der Berg-Tiernan household and add comedy to the narrative. Like Kaleb and Jake, Noah also loves and intensely desires Tiernan. Unlike them, his lust for Tiernan is framed as a desire for escape. More than Kaleb or Jake, Noah is bored of life in Colorado and the rigidity of his all-male household. He longs to break out of the isolation and step into the larger world. Noah is an expert motorcycle racer and wants to join the official off-road Motocross Racing circuit.

As the narrative proceeds, Tiernan begins to regard Noah as her friend. Noah, however, also displays a troubling attitude towards women, including Remi. His internal monologue while having sex with Remi is derogatory, and he often refers to Tiernan as a thing or uses a slur. Noah, too, violates Tiernan’s bodily autonomy and touches her without consent. The one difference between him and the other Van der Berg men is that he does not hit Tiernan. Noah notes that, despite his comparatively tender treatment of her, she desires Jake and Kaleb more. Noah feels emasculated by his father and brother and ignored by Tiernan, and Douglas therefore explores the pressures of patriarchy that lead to violence. Yet he also displays an acute understanding of people and situations, such as when he understands that Tiernan’s sexual awakening is in part a desire to escape her pain, or when he notes that Tiernan is sad because she actually did once love her parents. Noah is also the only Van der Berg in touch with Noah and Kaleb’s mother. When his mother passes away at the novel’s end, he encourages Kaleb to forgive her. Noah’s character shows change over the course of the novel, as he journeys out in the larger world and grows up.