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Hank’s love for and loyalty to Polly is clearly demonstrated. Do you think his behavior is reasonable when he speaks with Tegan in the basement to collect her empty plate? What did you think about Hank’s decisions after seeing Polly’s injury? What do you think about Hank’s decision regarding Mitch? What would you have done if you were in Hank’s position?
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Hank might be the one I can relate to the most, but still, I couldn’t quite understand his response to Tegan in the basement. His aggression seemed a bit much at that point, considering how incapacitated Tegan was. And it’s difficult to ignore a strong conscience, which he seemed to have. I understood more when faced with Polly’s threat though. I do believe that at that point, it would’ve been a difficult decision, but prior to the threat, I was disappointed in his response. What happened with Mitch might have resulted in a better situation for Sadie, but also, it might not have, considering how unstable Hank and Polly are. I could never do anything any of the characters in the book do to be honest!
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I agree with Sofia in that Hank was the most relatable for me too. As to why he responds to Tegan the way he does, it had been established earlier on that Hank has a “hair-trigger” temper when it comes to protecting Polly so his response to Tegan makes sense, given she’s hurt his wife. Re: Mitch, I think that maybe Hank was telling Polly to stay away from Sadie because he maybe was more worried about how he might respond if he found Mitch threatening Polly. There was foreshadowing when Mitch came over to their house and told Polly to stay away from his daughter and Hank interrupted them. Throughout the book, it’s clear that Hank has a firm boundary that no one should cross and it’s don’t threaten Polly. But he’s definitely got some depth in that his protective nature does extend to others and he appears to have clear boundaries about what is right and wrong but his heart sometimes gets in the way.
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Did anyone else have a bit of trouble reconciling Hank’s actions with his moral code? There were a few things that he did that seemed to simply serve the plot rather than be logical to his character. For instance, Hank reacting angrily to Tegan when he went to check on her just reinforces her thoughts that he’s scary and out to harm her and it delays her rescue. But if he already knew his wife was mentally unstable when it came to babies and children, then why is he so okay and trusting with the way she handles Teagan? And if he takes precautions in protecting his wife by warning her to away from Sadie, then why doesn’t he just grab Tegan the moment the snow was cleared to protect Polly from getting her in serious trouble? Each time he says he is going to do that, he backs away from his decision. It was a bit confusing to me.
His decision regarding Mitch…at least this decision seemed pretty straightforward. Hank doesn’t want to get involved in the lives of Mitch and Sadie. But I think he reacted to the situation in a moment of weakness. I think he was at a breaking point emotionally and mentally with all the trouble with Tegan and Polly that he snapped and protected Sadie. I’m curious if anyone has a different view on this.
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