61 pages • 2 hours read
John GrishamThe Testament
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1999A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Troy Phelan Sr.
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses alcoholism, suicide, and racism against Indigenous people.
Grisham uses Troy Phelan Sr. to generate the inciting incident that sets the plot in motion. By leaving his estate to a daughter that no one knew he had, he initiates the contest over his will and Nate’s search for Rachel. Thus, though he is only alive for the first two chapters of the novel, his presence looms large across the narrative.
Through Phelan’s first-person narrative, Grisham makes his cruelty apparent. Phelan does not try to mask that he is filled with hatred toward his family and servant, Snead. He lists his many business and financial successes, aware that they have made him miserable but unable to liberate himself from his attachment to them. His study of Zoroaster suggests an awareness of the need for spiritual fulfillment—connection to something beyond his material possessions—but it has not transformed his character in a substantial way.
His isolation is also conveyed through his contempt for his family. He shows no affection for anyone around him and is only tolerant of people whom he believes are not trying to extract anything from him. This initiates the theme of Reciprocity in Social and Family Networks. He says that he does not care who inherits his money, only who does not get it, which is anyone who wants it. Grisham does not reveal Phelan’s motivations behind leaving Rachel his money. This heightens the sense of mystery throughout the novel.
Nate O’Riley
Nate is the main protagonist of the novel. He is the character with whom the reader spends the most time as they follow him from his rehabilitation facility to Brazil and back to his home. His emotional arc leads to his efforts to connect with his children and find meaning in his life. This arc in the novel contributes to the plot’s tension, as it raises questions about whether Nate will recover from his addictions, whether he will succeed in finding Rachel, and whether he will survive the dangers that he encounters.
Nate considers his inability to withstand the pressure of his job as a litigator the primary source of his destructive behaviors. His professional experiences destroyed his compassion for others and his respect for himself, and he lost himself in the process, becoming disconnected from his family and ultimately losing them. His various attempts to treat his addiction to alcohol always ended where they started. He believes that the only way to break the cycle is by leaving his legal career behind and finding a purpose that contributes positively to the larger world and thus feels meaningful. This underpins Grisham’s deviations from the conventions of the legal-suspense thriller.
When Nate first meets with Rachel, she is immediately concerned about his relationship with God, where he goes to church, and whether he prays. Her concern for his spiritual life touches him, and he admires her commitment to her mission and her dedication to the Ipicas. However, while she strongly inspires him to make meaningful changes in his life, he does not want to become a missionary. He does not have Rachel’s level of commitment as a Christian and harbors bigotry. For Nate, the Indigenous people in Brazil are oddities; his experiences with them provide interesting or amusing stories to tell back home. He could “sell” his dangerous experience in the Pantanal as ecotourist adventures, although he himself grows tired of the hardships that he endures and longs to return home. He is uncomfortable with, even disdainful of, the Ipicas’ nudity and assumes that, because they do not partake in Western perceptions of modern “progress,” they are “primitive” in every way. He cannot perceive that cultures have different priorities and cannot be compared by a single standard. His behavior represents the condescension of people from Western cultures who equate “civilization” with modern luxuries.
When the novel ends, Nate is still at the beginning of his journey toward change, but his character has developed substantially and his journey ends on a hopeful note. When he returns to Brazil to wrap up the Phelan case, he is saddened to learn that Rachel has died but inspired to learn that she has provided for the case’s peaceful resolution by leaving behind a will, which includes a role for him that will give him a mission of service. He decides not to rush the journey back to Corumbá by helicopter but instead to take the slow way back with Jevy and Welly, to savor the trip and the company.
Rachel Lane
Rachel Lane is Troy Phelan’s daughter. Prior to the reading of the will, no one else in the Phelan family knew that she existed. According to Phelan’s papers, the two met once when Rachel was a teenager. She later became a missionary and had no contact with her father. When Phelan’s will and Rachel’s existence become public, everyone assumes that she will claim her inheritance and hire a lawyer. The idea that she will pursue the money is never questioned until later in the novel when she fails to appear. The search for Rachel initiates the rising action and creates narrative tension during the first half of the novel.
Rachel is a static character who remains the same from beginning to end. This status reflects the staunchness of her beliefs and the depth of her commitment to her mission, setting her in opposition to those involved in the will contest. While the Phelan children and their lawyers will stop at nothing to win the money, Rachel remains firm in her convictions, unchanged by financial forces. Her static character status also provides a way for Grisham to explore the tension between outsiders and Indigenous Brazilians and present a central question: Can Tradition and Change Be Reconciled?
Rachel places no value on material comfort. The only thing that matters to her is fulfilling her mission to bring the Christian gospel to the world and serving her “people,” who for her are the Ipicas, both Christian and non-Christian. The narrative notes that she has converted approximately one third of the population to Christianity but maintains a productive relationship with the Ipicas’ leader and serves all within the community. However, she does have local enemies: the shalyuns, a doctor and spirit guide, who resent Rachel’s presence because she is bringing a new religion into the community. According to Rachel, they persecute those whom she has converted, encourage community leaders to expel her, and blame her for problems that fall on the people.
Rachel accepts the Ipicas unconditionally and is willing to live as they do, apart from the modern world. However, Grisham’s portrayal of corporations and governments exploiting the natural resources of the Pantanal raises questions regarding Rachel’s own role as another foreign force. She attempts to use her resources to help the people from within and become part of their community. At the same time, her presence is changing that community by virtue of introducing a new religion. The numerous mentions of bringing foreign diseases to the Ipicas draws a comparison between the imposition of religion and the threat of disease. While Grisham presents Rachel as non-extractive, in contrast to the foreign corporations, for those who wish to maintain their traditions, Rachel is a threat to their identity.
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