Thérèse de Vitré Character Analysis

Thérèse de Vitré is an 18-year-old Trinidadian girl aboard Tony’s transatlantic crossing. Her family, presumably aristocrats in France, came to Trinidad during the French Revolution and became part of the island’s small aristocratic elite, from among whom Thérèse, bound by custom, will eventually choose a husband. Thérèse and Tony Last strike up a brief romance during the voyage. She speaks the cold and formal English of a well-educated foreigner, and her personality is correspondingly opaque—ironically, since de Vitré is French for “made of glass.” Tony’s offhand mention of the fact that he’s still technically married sours their relationship, and Thérèse loses all interest in him, disembarking in Trinidad with hardly a goodbye.