“Long Black Veil” by Jennifer Finney Boylan (post 7): Another character has an internal dialogue with an alternate personality that has a mind of its own

Rachel, the woman to whom Quentin had proposed, is a college professor who teaches a class on the Italian Renaissance. At a museum, she sees Leonardo’s St. John the Baptist, on loan from the Louvre, where she had seen it six times previously. Rachel feels that “the androgynous young man…looked directly into her soul”…making her feel…“lightheaded, transfixed” (1, p. 63).

For nine pages, Rachel engages in an internal dialogue with St. John the Baptist, who, among other things, says, “I just want you to become yourself” (1, p. 66).

So Quentin/Judith is not the only character in this novel who holds internal dialogues with alternate personalities—they appear to have minds of their own—who help them with relationships and identity.

1. Jennifer Finney Boylan. Long Black Veil. New York, Crown, 2017.