Becoming a Red

“When she woke, she was red. Not flushed, not sunburned, but the solid, declarative red of a stop sign” (3). This is how the main character, Hannah Payne, is first introduced. Hannah is raised in a strict and church devoted family who believes against adultery, murder and the idea that “[one] shall not covet with [their] neighbors husband” (24). Her family believes in God and that he should not be questioned, however, Hannah is full of questions and begins to act against her church’s and her family’s beliefs.

The major event that which develops the story and Hannah’s character is her scandal with Reverend Aidan Dale. Reverend Dale is not only a Reverend but he is a married man, Hannah and Reverend Dale have sexual relations with one another which break the beliefs of the church. A problem does not arise from this scandal until Hannah becomes pregnant and decides to abort the child, which again is against her church's beliefs and is considered illegal. Hannah is caught, tried, and is sent to the Chrome ward which is a punishment facility that broadcasts the actions of the prisoners for all to see. While placed in the Chrome ward, Hannah is turned red which is meant to symbolize the murder of the unborn child. Due to her sentence and the rules that she broke, Hannah is disowned by her mother who says “ I don’t know you. I have one daughter, and her name is Rebecca.” (25), Rebecca is Hannah’s sister who has been viewed as the perfect child her entire life. Given the disownment from her family and the isolation she is placed in at the Chrome ward, Hannah is alone.

So far in the novel, I am not a big fan of Reverend Dale, the fact that he is able to get away with impregnating Hannah with no consequence does not seem fair to me, he is the one who is married and cheated on his wife. Reverend Dale, as of now is a character I am not too fond of. As for Hannah pain, I feel a sort of sympathy for her, although she may have broken the rules and the beliefs of the church she had good intentions for doing so. Also through the thoughts of Hannah, we see that she feels guilty, embarrassed and regretful towards the way that everything went down. She was raised by beliefs she never fully accepted as her own and she as never truly able to be her true self because she was being constricted by her family's beliefs. I am very excited to see how Hannah develops as the novel goes along and I am interested to see the relationships and connects she is going to create as the novel progresses.