An Introduction to When She Woke and its Characters

“When she woke, she was red.” The first sentence of the novel immediately calls words like passion, determination, love, and strength to mind, and each of these words can be used to describe the main character, Hannah Payne. Hannah is a 26-year-old girl who has just been put in prison and had her skin “melachromed” (a way of temporarily altering the skin by the injection of a virus) bright red as a form of punishment. She lives in a society where different skin colors are used to explain the crime that a person has committed. Yellow stands for misdemeanors, blue stands for child molestation, and red stands for murder. Hannah skin is now red because the society that she lives in is extremely Christian. She has just had an abortion and because of this she is viewed as a murderer.

The church and the state have merged in this society, and The Ten Commandments are used as a legal code. As early as the first page of the book we can see that Hannah is not very good at following these rules. Hannah is never really a normal girl in this society. She is bold and inquisitive, always asking too many questions like “why is it immodest for girls not to wear shirts but not for boys”(14)? and “if Jesus turned water into wine, why is it wrong for people to drink it”(14)? She constantly wonders about, and finds flaws in, the rules of the society. She also never feels satisfied with the simple and dull life that she is meant to lead, and she yearns for “something indefinably more”(14). She is bold and vibrant, not meant for living a life full of repetitive and unexciting tasks. Hannah has tried to live that way, but she could never stand it. During Hannah’s time in prison she recalls a time where her “...life had revolved around the twin nuclei of her family and the church; who’d lived with her parents, worked as a seamstress for a local bridal salon, gone to services on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights and Bible study classes twice a week”(13)... Hannah could not go on like this, so to make sure that she did not go crazy she began making beautiful dresses that would have been considered inappropriate. Hannah is very self aware and knows that she could not deviate from the social norm without bringing shame to her family, so she kept many things secret from them. Hannah designed the dresses and “...sewed them late at night, hiding them under virginal white mounds of silk, lace and tulle that filled her workroom over the garage”(13). These dresses are her outlet and they help her keep up the facade that she is finally accepting the life she has.

For a while making the dresses help Hannah, but when she meets Aidan Dale she cannot contain herself. They form a passionate and loving relationship, but it is all kept secret, as he is a married man. Hannah gets pregnant with his child and decides to get an abortion. She manages to find someone to give her an abortion, which shows a lot about Hannah’s character. She is smart enough to talk to the right people about where to find someone to do the procedure, and then she is also extremely brave to go out and get it done when the consequences are so high. It also shows how much she cares about Aidan, because if she were to keep the baby she would have to name him as the father, and his career and life with Alyssa would be ruined. Hannah bears this burden all by herself and proves that she is a strong person. When Hannah is caught and questioned after having the abortion, she still does not break or spill any secrets. She says nothing during her trial and because of this she gets six extra years of being red. All of Hannah’s actions while dealing with her abortion show that she is a strong and brave woman. She is facing an intimidating future that seems impossible to deal with, but I feel as though she will succeed. I’ll definitely be rooting for her happiness throughout the rest of the story. 

The second character that gets introduced to the reader is Hannah’s older sister, Becca. Becca and Hannah are foils of one another. While Hannah is rebellious, Becca is the good girl. She is the perfect daughter that Hannah always gets compared to. Becca was a “sunny, obedient child who swam through adolescence and into womanhood with an ease that Hannah envied”(14). She is extremely sweet and truly a good person. She is constantly looking out for Hannah by helping her with their parents. She would give Hannah a look to let her know when she was ever taking it too far with her questions and actions. This way she can keep her family from fighting, which is something that Becca hates. She is a bit of a peacekeeper in that sense. Even though Becca is a wonderful person she is not very strong-willed. Her husband Cole is very controlling and forces all of her opinions onto her, so much so that the “‘Cole says’ became her constant refrain”(46). Sadly, Cole has been slowly taking control of Becca’s character. Hopefully, as the story progresses she will begin to stand up for herself.

Hannah's parents are very different from one another, but they both care for her. Mr. and Mrs. Payne have always strived to raise Hannah as a respectable member of the community, and when Hannah ends up in prison both of her parents are devastated. Hannah’s father is the parent that handles it better. He is incredibly loving and considerate and is the “kind of man who could be counted on”(21). The reader can see that he is very forgiving when he visits Hannah before her trial and comes to pick her up from the prison when she is set free. Many families in this society would have cast someone like Hannah out of their lives, but Hannah’s father loves her deeply. Hannah's father will not only be there for her. He defends his wife when Hannah claims that her mother is ashamed of her. He explains that “it wasn’t shame kept your mother at home, it was grief”(77). He also knows the value of his wife as he “consulted their mother’s opinion in all things, and while he didn’t always follow her counsel, he had a deep respect for her and for the role she played”(46)... Hannah’s father is more respectful of women than many men in this society, and I get the feeling that whenever anyone in his family needs help he will be there for them. 

Hannah’s mother is much more harsh with her daughter. She always wanted Hannah to grow up and be a respectable society member so when she sees Hannah in such a difficult situation she is devastated. Hannah’s mother visits her once while she is in jail. She arrives seeming very closed off with a “wintry” gaze. She claims to have no sympathy for her daughter, but proves that she is a cared when Hannah snaps at her and her “…shoulders buckled and the flesh of her face seemed to wither, shrinking inwards against the bone”(24)… Her loves Hannah and seeing her this way is tearing her apart. Even though Hannah's mother is a tough woman she seems to have a big heart. She even tells Hannah that she would have loved the baby and that Hannah did not have to go through with the abortion. Hannah herself knows this as thinks about how “her mother would have stormed, and her father would have brooded. They would have rebuked and sermonized and interrogated and wept and prayed, but in the end they would have accepted the child. Would have loved it”(25). This interaction shows that even though Hannah’s mother may seem like a harsher and colder character, she really loves and wants the best for her children.

Aidan Dale is the man that Hannah falls in love with. He is a world renowned and cherished minister, and is “known and admired the world over as a true man of God”(19). He visits refugee centers and spends a lot of his time and interest on helping children in need. He seems as though he is a genuinely good and generous person. He is also deeply involved in the community and meets Hannah when he goes to pray for her father while he is injured in the hospital. When Hannah and her family thank him for his prayers he seems “genuinely embarrassed” and “unworthy of it.” From the outside, Aidan Dale seems like a perfect person. He cares for others and is involved in charity, but his character is marred for me by the fact that he has a relationship with Hannah. He does not obey the saying “practice what you preach.” He cheats on his wife, and even though Hannah and Aidan seem to love one another, he is a minister. Seeing him go against the beliefs that he preaches to everyone else in the country makes me wonder what he is really like and if he is keeping any other secrets. I question if he is as good a person as he seems. Another thing that makes me uncertain about Aidan is that he does not own up to getting Hannah pregnant. In my mind, this shows that he may not care about Hannah has much as she cares about him. It seems cowardly for him to take all the blame. I realize that admitting his faults would wreck the life that he has now, but I still think that he should have done more.

Cole is Becca’s husband. He is rude, controlling, and a bit of a brute. Hannah describes him as “a swaggering bull of a man with an aw-shucks grin that turned flat and mean when he didn’t get his way"(43). This is the perfect description, as he seems like a charming man at first, but can be seen slowly changing into something crueler. The way that he changes and treats Becca shows how he is not a good man. The longer Becca is with him “the fewer opinions she had that weren’t provided by him. ‘Cole says’ became her constant refrain”(46). Cole is oppressing Becca’s personality, and she stops doing the things that she really enjoys, such as reading fiction and her job as a teacher’s aide because Cole tells her too. This proves that Cole is not a good husband or person. It is clear that this is a dangerous relationship and that he does not truly care about Becca. He is an inconsiderate and self-obsessed person that only wants to be with someone he can order around.

Overall, this book is incredibly intriguing, and I cannot wait to see these characters develop and reveal more about themselves.