The Cider House Rules

Dr. Wilbur Larch is another central character in the novel. His relationship to Homer is complicated. As the director of the orphanage where Homer grows up, he is a paternal figure to Homer and a formative influence in his life. Yet over the course of the novel, he is also a frequent antagonist to Homer, often thwarting Homer’s growth and independence under the guise of helping and protecting him.

Dr. Larch behaves both rationally and irrationally, depending on the circumstances. On one hand, he is a man of science and principles, dedicated to helping the poor and keeping a careful diaristic account of his work and surroundings. On the other hand, his emotions and impulses are a mystery to him, and his lack of self-awareness often makes him behave in ways that are eccentric and hurtful. In an effort to keep Homer out of the war, he invents an imaginary heart condition for him; he does not understand that this invention will curtail Homer’s life in other ways. He is also an ether addict in denial about the extent of his addiction.

Dr. Larch’s ether-induced reveries, as well as the elaborate deceptions he uses to hide his abortion practice, show his imaginative side. Although he is a doctor, committed to seeing and dealing with the world as it is, he is also a latent storyteller and builder of worlds. (For more on the theme of storytelling in this novel, see The Uses of Storytelling in the Themes section of this guide.) 

Melony is an orphan and a frequent foil for Homer. Although the two of them are both orphans, they are otherwise near opposites, and Melony’s journeys and explorations out in the world often complement Homer’s. Melony is rough where Homer is polished; she is stubborn where he is adaptable. She is not a willing learner like Homer is, rebelling when others—such as Dr. Larch—try to tutor her. She is more intuitive than intellectual, and while she is slow to care about books and lessons, she is quick to size people up. 

Melony observes that she can “make anyone nervous in less than a minute” (332). Her capacity to unnerve people is rooted in her rough and imposing appearance, but also in her honesty and bluntness. Because she struggles to fit in and keep up appearances—unlike Homer—she is a helpless truth teller and ultimately a voice of reason and morality in the novel. She shames Homer for his affair with Candy and inspires him to tell the truth to his family. She also returns, as Homer does, to St. Cloud’s orphanage at the end of the novel; although she returns as a corpse rather than a living person, her return is as deliberate and conscious as Homer’s. She has come to her own understanding of the orphanage’s societal value and of its formative role in her own life.

Though a secondary character, Mr. Rose is a catalyst in the novel. His arrival at Ocean’s View orchard brings events in the novel to a head and unearths unspoken tensions among the characters. His secret abuse of his daughter Rose causes Homer to reexamine his views on performing abortions and, more indirectly, to learn that Dr. Larch, his mentor, has died. Mr. Rose is also an unwitting example to Candy and Homer, in that his behavior shows the destructiveness of secrets and pushes them to reveal their own deception.

Mr. Rose is a mystery to the reader and to those around him. Readers see him only from the outside through the eyes of others; they never see the world through his eyes and can only guess at his motivations. Though abusive and violent, he is also rule-bound and disciplined. He applies a strict code of behavior to enforce compliance among his family and underlings. This code seems like a reaction to the list of rules that Olive Worthington has hung up in the cider house, and that many of the illiterate workers are unable to read).