Sugar Character Analysis

One of the most striking parts of the novel Sugar, by Bernice L. McFadden is her choice of names, especially that of the main character, Sugar. McFadden chooses a name that was unconventional for the time period and remains unconventional today. Not only is there significance in the name Sugar, but the names Pearl and Mercy also have deeper meanings intentionally chosen by the author to further expand upon their roles as characters within the setting of the novel. Each of these three character’s names represent a persona that can be applied outside of the constraints of the novel. The implications of Pearl’s name are clear from the beginning. The image of a literal pearl invokes thoughts of purity, virginity, and innocence. The character

It makes sense that McFadden chose to name the granddaughter Mercy and not Mary herself. While she almost seemed like an unnecessary character at first, Mercy was needed to show what kind of change love and compassion can invoke in a person. Prior to Sugar’s first departure from the Bedford house Mary took on a much more distant role in her life, similar to that of the role of the Lacey sisters. Mary may have cared about Sugar, but it was certainly less direct and there was a financial gain to keeping Sugar around. Sugar returns to St. Louis cut up and bloody from a violent client presumably expecting to work for Mary again, however she is greeted by Mercy and becomes aware that the Bedford house is no longer operating as a brothel. Mercy, at this point, represents an angel. The word “mercy” continues to be a trend throughout Sugar’s time spent in the Bedford house. Sugar finally begins to understand love and compassion. Her time with Mary is one of the first times in the novel that she has a genuine smile due to a good memory and is pointed out when Mary says: “You having one. You having one I see it don’t try and deny it!” (103). Sugar’s time with Mary and Mercy is somewhat of a turning point in the book. While she does go back to being a sex worker, in general her life seems to get better after having spent time with them, especially after meeting

Through her choice of name, McFadden is placing value on sex worker’s bodies, professions, and themselves as people. McFadden raises the idea at several points in the novel that Sugar’s line of work may be her own choice, but readers are more directly led to believe that Sugar doesn’t have any real options outside of her sex work. The sugar trade also has a brutal history, mainly through the infamous Middle Passage. Goods were traded to Africa for slaves who in turn, were sent to the Caribbean which produced sugar and rum for England. Slaves working in the sugar plantations lived in miserable conditions with high mortality rates. The danger and vicious cycle of the slave trade can be compared to the dangerous life that sex workers lead. Sugar didn’t have a direct “master” or owner, however she did face many abusive men such as the one that left her with the gash before she returned to the Bedford house and Lappy at the end of the