Flora And Ulysses

Ulysses starts out as an unnamed squirrel, wandering about Tootie Tickham’s yard in search of food. Food occupies the majority of his thoughts, and when he is sucked up by Tootie’s Ulysses 2000X vacuum (his namesake), “there [aren’t] a lot of terribly profound thoughts going through his head […] What he [thinks] is, Man, I sure am hungry” (10). After Flora saves Ulysses from near death, he seems to be transformed. Not only is he capable of super strength and flight, but he can understand Flora’s words and even type out his own. After the vacuum cleaner incident, Ulysses undergoes a process of Becoming Illuminated as he comes to understand the meaning and purpose beyond the simple life of a squirrel. Through The Power of Words, he communicates his newfound illumination and love for the world—especially Flora. Ulysses loves many things, both simple and profound—including food, people, poetry, and even Flora’s mother’s smoke rings. He is simply happy to be alive, and this sentiment transcends even the threat of death: “The world in all its smelly glory, in all its treachery and joy and nuttiness, washed over Ulysses, ran through him, filled him. He could smell everything. He could even smell the blue of the sky” (90). By demonstrating amazing powers beyond the abilities of a normal squirrel, Ulysses instills and reignites many characters’ belief in The Possibility of the Impossible.

Ulysses immediately trusts Flora because she is the one who saved him and proves a kind, loving girl. He returns her love, and by her side, he is able to discover the joys of giant donuts, cheese puffs, poetry, and meeting new people. Flora was cynical and lonely before she met Ulysses, but he becomes exactly who she needs to heal and repair her relationships with her parents. Flora loves everything about Ulysses: “She loved his whiskers. She loved his words. She loved his happiness, his little head, his determined heart, his nutty breath. She loved how beautiful he looked when he flew” (186). She encourages him to embrace his inner superhero and gives him the confidence he needs to save his own life and hers. In this way, Ulysses acts as a light in the darkness, much like Flora’s fictional hero, the Amazing Incandesto.

Flora’s father, George, is a round character who starts off the story as a distant figure in Flora’s life. Before he and Flora’s mother divorced, he was a constant, loving, and joyful presence, albeit consistent and somewhat predictable. Flora and her father have long shared a love of comic books, particularly Incandesto, and would read them together as Flora fell asleep at night. She fondly remembers her father imitating the voices of the characters and embodying the confidence of Incandesto. However, since the divorce, Flora’s father has been a shadow of his former self, smiling in a sad way, doing whatever Flora’s mother demands of him, and quietly accepting his lot in life; he even acts as though he doesn’t recognize Flora’s references to her comics. But after George meets Ulysses and sees him fly around the Giant Do-Nut, he is suddenly renewed: “Flora had forgotten about her father. He was looking up at Ulysses. And he was smiling. It wasn’t a sad smile. It was a happy smile” (101).

Dr. Meescham reveals that George is extremely sad and lonely, and hates being apart from his beloved daughter Flora. She tells Flora that he’s spent many hours crying on her couch, and this information shocks Flora. Flora believes her father would make a great spy, as he almost never answers questions directly or says what he is thinking—but she observes that great spies probably don’t cry. Dr. Meescham tells Flora that her father has a capacious heart, which “means the heart of George Buckman is large. It is capable of containing much joy and much sorrow” (129). Overall, George is a selfless man who encourages Flora to stay with her mother, at least for a while, so they can repair their relationship. He does this despite wanting to live with Flora again. He also comforts Flora’s mother in her moments of panic and shock, as she adjusts to Ulysses and a more assertive, independent Flora.

Flora’s mother is the antagonist of the story. She is a romance novel writer who spends little time with her daughter and seems to initially care more about a glass shepherdess lamp than Flora. Flora resents her mother for this, and actively resists when her mother tries to influence her. When Flora’s mother deems Flora too old for comic books and pushes her to embrace “real literature,” Flora responds by spending even more time reading comics. Flora’s parents are divorced, and since Flora doesn’t relate to her mother, she constantly feels lonely.

Flora realizes her mother is her and Ulysses’s archnemesis when she overhears her telling her father to kidnap Ulysses and kill him with a shovel. She decides “this malfeasance must be stopped” (77) and does whatever she can to protect Ulysses. This culminates in Flora demanding to move in with her father, who loves his daughter but recognizes that Flora’s mother also needs Flora in her life. Flora’s mother responds coldly to this outburst, saying “It would certainly make my life easier” (150). This hurts Flora, and only widens the divide between them. When Flora’s mother witnesses Ulysses fly around the kitchen and type on her typewriter, she experiences a sort of mental health crisis and becomes robotic.

At one point, Flora’s mother insists that Flora can keep Ulysses—but this turns out to be a lie. Instead, she forces Ulysses to write a fake letter to Flora about his decision to return to the wild and tries to kill him. After Ulysses escapes, Flora’s mother returns home and finds her daughter missing. It is in this crucial moment that her true feelings for Flora are revealed: She cares about her more than anything, and only wants her to be “normal,” safe, and happy. Because Flora and her mother lack a clear line of communication, Flora’s mother never expresses this sentiment until the novel’s conclusion.

William is Tootie’s great nephew who is staying with her for the summer. He is a round character and perhaps the most mysterious in the novel. When William first appears after hearing a commotion at Flora’s house, he is standing in the doorway with dark glasses and a vacant expression. He claims to be temporarily blind, but his great-aunt Tootie insists he is able to see. He maintains his cryptic air until the novel’s climax, when his glasses break and his mask is forcibly removed. William takes an immediate interest in Flora, finding her to be intriguing and different, someone he can relate to. Flora doesn’t take to William the same way, wondering if he is the archnemesis whom her comics warned her about—but it is not long before she finds herself missing him, trusting him, and even holding his hand. In the novel’s climax, it is revealed that William is not blind: He has been responding to the trauma of losing his father and being banished by his mother (as punishment for him pushing his stepfather’s truck into a sinkhole).

William has a way with words and an approach to life that embodies practicality, skepticism, and scientific inquiry. When he first hears about Ulysses’s superpowers, he doubts they’re the result of magic and finds ways to reason them away. However, as William spends time with Flora and Ulysses, he becomes more open to The Possibility of the Impossible. William sees the universe as a random, unpredictable place, and regularly talks about how it is constantly expanding.

William’s idea has a profound effect on both Flora and Ulysses, who contemplate the universe’s expansion in their own ways. Flora’s universe expands as she gets to know William, and learns that they have more in common than she once believed. While searching for Ulysses, William reveals that he pushed his stepfather’s truck into a sinkhole. Like Flora, William feels neglected and unloved by his mother. Flora is also moved by the way William speaks and finds that The Power of Words is something that William embodies with ease: “I want to go home. It was another one of William Spiver’s sad, beautiful sentences. But will you return? I came looking for you. I want to go home” (206).

Dr. Meescham is a round character who is first believed to be a medical doctor who can help determine if Ulysses has a concussion but is soon revealed to be a Doctor of Philosophy instead. She helps Flora and her family in her own way, offering helpful advice, telling Flora stories that are relevant to her life and time with Ulysses, and relating to Flora’s loneliness and belief in The Possibility of the Impossible. Dr. Meescham is a kind woman who opens her door to Flora, even before formally meeting her. After spending time with Flora’s father and hearing about his sadness in relation to being apart from Flora, Dr. Meescham takes a special interest in Flora and decides to help her and her father.

Flora consults Dr. Meescham after Ulysses flies into a glass door by mistake, worried that he might have a concussion. Dr. Meescham offers them a snack and tells Flora about her father’s capacious heart, explaining that he’s missed Flora dearly. Flora is amazed to hear that anyone loves her that much. Dr. Meescham also points out that Ulysses’s ability to understand human speech should be considered one of his powers as well: “This is no small thing, to understand” (121). Using a painting of a squid consuming a ship as a teaching point, she warns Flora that “loneliness makes us do terrible things” (124). This subtle advice helps illuminate the reasons why Flora’s mother acts so coldly, and why Flora’s father shut down after the divorce. In the novel’s climax, Ulysses escapes Flora’s mother and unwittingly finds his way to Dr. Meescham’s window, which is wide open. Dr. Meescham leaves her window open as an invitation for wonderful, unexpected things to occur, and is pleased when Ulysses flies in. She feels that allowing oneself to be open to possibilities makes the world more beautiful. Dr. Meescham happily invites Flora’s family, as well as William and Tootie, into her home at the end of a chaotic night. She acts as a source of healing when Flora’s family needs it most.