The Floating Opera

Harrison Mack is Todd’s best friend and a key supporting character in The Floating Opera. Handsome and fit, Harrison comes from a rich family, but he is sympathetic to the working class when Todd first meets him: “Harrison—a fine, muscular, sun-bronzed, gentle-eyed, patrician-nosed, steak-fed, Gilman-Schooled, soft-spoken, well-tailored aristocrat—to his family’s understandable alarm was a communist at the time” (21). Harrison’s passion to help unions and workers’ movements exemplifies conviction, and a willingness to take a stance, even if it goes against his family’s values. His political ideology opposes Todd’s, who approaches life with non-committal skepticism. From the outset, Harrison gives Todd a character to have dynamic conversations, and disagreements, with. Harrison’s staunch worldview also sets him up for failure and change, his character arc further developing the novel’s themes about wearing masks.

Over time, Harrison abandons his Marxist leanings. He loses faith in workers and settles into a privileged life working for his father’s pickle company. Todd notes that Harrison’s principles change based on the environment he’s in: “I observed that Harrison involuntarily adopts, to a great extent, the mood and manner of whomever he happens to be with—a tendency I admire in him, for it implies that he has no characteristic mood or manner of his own” (20). Harrison’s flexible personality entices Todd, and he steadily turns Harrison into a cynic over the course of the story. In the end, Harrison is skeptical of both workers and administrators at his company. His character arc, from idealist to cynic, is another example of how people adopt different personas in life and can be swayed by others.

Like Todd, Harrison is inquisitive and a critical thinker. He questions man’s principles, and, along with Jane, determines there’s no actual reason they can’t sleep with other people while still being in a loving marriage. He even encourages Jane to sleep with Todd because of his doubts about the inherent value of a monogamous relationship, providing another example of a character questioning human constructions. However, Harrison proves he is not as committed to doubting manmade principles as much as Todd. He is supportive of Jane’s affair, at first, but he grows jealous. Later, he suggests they stop seeing each other. He also values money, so much so that he becomes melancholic when he realizes he might not receive his inheritance. Harrison shows a willingness to question society, but unlike Todd, he drifts back to established values, creating a contrast to Todd’s path toward suicide. 

Jane Mack is Harrison Mack’s wife and Todd’s primary romantic interest. From the moment Todd meets her, he’s enamored by her looks: “She was indeed ‘Ruxton and Gibson Island,’ a combination of beauty and athleticism” (24). Jane’s beauty complicates Todd’s friendship with Harrison; being attracted to his friend’s wife makes him uneasy, heightening the tension in their relationship. Jane is also open-minded and becomes intrigued at the idea of having an affair with Todd, following her husband’s advice. Her willingness to experiment sexually and test marital standards reveals her free spirit and establishes a love triangle that Barth uses to maintain narrative tension throughout the novel. During her affair with Todd, Jane comes to love him, but not at the expense of loving her husband. Her loving nature is so strong Todd finds it off putting: “Well, the thing soon commenced getting out of hand, as I’d feared. Jane was as lovely and skillful as ever, but she was too loving, too solicitous” (39). Jane’s ability to love two men and come to her own decisions about her marriage and love life make her an independent and complex character. Her desires and actions carry weight and impact for Harrison and Todd, giving her agency and power.

Jane cares for the other characters but isn’t afraid to critique them either. She loves Todd, but when he embarrasses Harrison and says they’re unworthy of the inheritance money, she sides with her husband and cuts Todd out of their life. She later forgives Todd, showing compassion and empathy, but she isn’t afraid to ridicule him and speak her mind. After Todd experiences a horrible night of existential dread, Jane suggests he see a doctor, then calls him a pansy. She becomes more unpredictable, which makes Todd regret his decision to kill himself; she’s only the character capable of causing him to feel this way.

Jane is loving, but not saintly, and her privilege allows her a life of wealth and comfort with Harrison. Todd observes Jane and Harrison’s aristocratic attributes and notes they aren’t too different from most people: “Really, you see, Harrison and Jane were quite ordinary people, only a little more intelligent and a lot better-looking and richer than most” (33). They know there is racial injustice but are prejudiced themselves. Despite the rise of fascism in Italy, Jane wants to visit; tumultuous political movements are inconsequential to her. Her lavish lifestyle shows that being rich and educated doesn’t necessarily make someone more outstanding than most people; Jane still has flaws.