Reuben St. Claire is a middle school social studies teacher who has recently moved to Atascadero, California. Reuben is a black war veteran who is badly disfigured. During the Vietnam War, Reuben attempted to save one of his fellow soldiers who accidentally dropped a grenade, but Reuben was unsuccessful. The man died; Reuben’s face was badly injured, and his left hand was crippled. After many skin grafts and surgeries, Reuben’s left eye was smoothed over but part of his face was permanently paralyzed. He wears an eye patch in public to avoid undue attention to his absent eye, though people stare at his face nonetheless.

Reuben arrives at first as incredibly shallow. He is meticulous about his hygiene but is also exclusively drawn to extremely beautiful women: “Attractive women always made him hurt, literally, a long pain that started high up in his solar plexus and radiated downward through his gut” (13). Despite the pain that beautiful women cause him, he seems to obsess over them, although he seems mostly drawn to their appearances, not to their personalities. Due to his obsession, Reuben links together appearances—and by extension, social norms—and the physical and emotional pain that can result from a dissonance between desire and reality.