Of the three main characters, Milton Loftis, the father of the family, is the central voice of the novel — perhaps because he, unlike Peyton and Helen, truly, although desperately, tries to keep the family together. The reader soon realizes that despite Milton's sensitivity, his strong adoration of Peyton, and his attempts to reach out to his wife, he is weak. He does not have enough will power or courage to make a radical decision that could have prevented the family's tragedy. Estranged by his prudish, frigid, and authoritative wife, he seduces Dolly Bonner, an attractive, but submissive and simple-minded, wife of a pathetic real estate agent, and hides his infidelity until confronted by his wife. Even then he is unable to commit himself wholly to one or the other.
Although Dolly gives him sexual.....
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