Dawn Dwyer Character Analysis in American Pastoral

Dawn Levov, formerly Dawn Dwyer, is the Swede’s first wife. She and the Swede have a daughter, Merry. Dawn grew up in urban New Jersey, and she and Swede share a similar resentment toward America’s gatekeeping, judgmental, and exclusionary upper class. Together, Dawn and the Swede strive to build a future unbeholden to the restrictive religious norms of their elders and enable their entry into the American mainstream. Dawn, a strikingly beautiful woman, was crowned Miss New Jersey in 1949. Many people in Dawn’s life use her former title to oversimplify her character and diminish her worth, implying that her past as a former beauty queen makes her ditzy or superficial. To prove her worth and gumption, Dawn starts a cattle-ranching business. Nevertheless, although the Swede recognizes Dawn’s hard work and admires her ambition, others don’t take the business venture as seriously. Jerry, for instance, suggests that Dawn’s cattle business is yet more proof of the underlying phoniness of the Swede’s life—he insists she’s just a silly rich woman playing out her fantasy of living off the land. As Merry enters adolescence and becomes increasingly more radical, Dawn struggles to cope and doubts her efforts at mothering Merry. After Merry’s crime and subsequent disappearance, Dawn falls apart and must be hospitalized twice for depression. She also begins an affair with Bill Orcutt—the Levovs’ wealthy, condescending neighbor, whom Dawn outwardly claims to find insufferable. The Swede predicts that Dawn plans to leave him and move into the new house

Dawn Dwyer Quotes in American Pastoral

The American Pastoral quotes below are all either spoken by Dawn Dwyer or refer to Dawn Dwyer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Heroes, Legends, and Myth-Making Theme Icon

The Swede had got up off the ground and he’d done it—a second marriage, a second shot at a unified life controlled by good sense and the classic restraints, once again convention shaping everything, large and small, and serving as barrier against the improbabilities—a second shot at being the traditional devoted husband and father, pledging allegiance all over again to the standard rules and regulations that are the heart of family order. […] And yet not even the Swede, […] could shed the girl the way Jerry the ripper had told him to, could go all the way and shed completely the frantic possessiveness, the paternal assertiveness, the obsessive love for the lost daughter, shed every trace of that girl and that past and shake off forever the hysteria of “my child.” If only he could have just let her fade away. But not even the Swede was that great.

Related Characters: Nathan Zuckerman (speaker), Seymour “The Swede” Levov, Dawn Dwyer, Merry Levov, Jerry Levov

Page Number and Citation: 81

Explanation and Analysis:

Not since Merry had disappeared had he felt anything like this loquacious. Right up to that morning, all he’d been wanting was to weep or to hide; but because there was Dawn to nurse and a business to tend to and his parents to prop up, because everybody else was paralyzed by disbelief and shattered to the core, neither inclination had as yet eroded the protective front he provided the family and presented to the world. But now words were sweeping him on, buoying him up, his father’s words released by the sight of this tiny girl studiously taking them down. She was nearly as small, he thought, as the kids from Merry’s third-grade class, who’d been bused the thirty-eight miles from their rural schoolhouse one day back in the late fifties so that Merry’s daddy could show them how he made gloves […].

Related Characters: Nathan Zuckerman (speaker), Seymour “The Swede” Levov, Dawn Dwyer, Merry Levov, Lou Levov, Rita Cohen

Related Symbols: Gloves

Page Number and Citation: 121-122

Explanation and Analysis:

That is the outer life. To the best of his ability, it is conducted just as it used to be. But now it is accompanied by an inner life, a gruesome inner life of tyrannical obsessions, stifled inclinations, superstitious expectations, horrible imaginings, fantasy conversations, unanswerable questions. Sleeplessness and self-castigation night after night. Enormous loneliness. Unflagging remorse, even for that kiss when she was eleven and he was thirty-six and the two of them, in their wet bathing suits, were driving home together from the Deal beach. Could that have done it? Could anything have done it? Could nothing have done it?

Related Characters: Nathan Zuckerman (speaker), Seymour “The Swede” Levov, Dawn Dwyer, Merry Levov

Page Number and Citation: 173-174

Explanation and Analysis:

Almost immediately after the reconstitution of her face to its former pert, heart-shaped pre-explosion perfection, she decided to build a small contemporary house on a ten-acre lot the other side of Rimrock ridge and to sell the big old house, the outbuildings, and their hundred-odd acres. […] When he overheard her telling the architect, their neighbor Bill Orcutt, that she had always hated their house, the Swede was as stunned as if she were telling Orcutt she had always hated her husband.

Related Characters: Nathan Zuckerman (speaker), Seymour “The Swede” Levov, Dawn Dwyer, Merry Levov, Bill Orcutt

Related Symbols: Old Rimrock

Page Number and Citation: 188-189

Explanation and Analysis:

Mrs. Conlon had said, “You are as much the victims of this tragedy as we are. The difference is that for us, though recovery will take time, we will survive as a family. We will survive as a loving family. We will survive with our memories intact and with our memories to sustain us. It will not be any easier for us than it will be for you to make sense of something so senseless. But we are the same family we were when Fred was here, and we will survive.”

The clarity and force with which she implied that the Swede and his family would not survive made him wonder, in the weeks that followed, if her kindness and her compassion were so all-encompassing as he had wanted at first to believe.

He never went to see her again.

Related Characters: Mrs. Conlon (speaker), Seymour “The Swede” Levov, Dawn Dwyer, Merry Levov, Dr. Conlon

Related Symbols: Old Rimrock

Page Number and Citation: 216-217

Explanation and Analysis:

“She looks like a million bucks,” his father said. “That girl looks like herself again. Getting rid of those cows was the smartest thing you ever did. I never liked ’em. I never saw why she needed them. Thank God for that face-lift. I was against it but I was wrong. Dead wrong. I got to admit it. That guy did a wonderful job. Thank God our Dawn doesn’t look anymore like all that she went through.”

Related Characters: Lou Levov (speaker), Seymour “The Swede” Levov, Dawn Dwyer, Merry Levov, Bill Orcutt

Page Number and Citation: 298

Explanation and Analysis:

“[…] I sometimes think that more has changed since 1945 than in all the years of history there have ever been. I don’t know what to make of the end of so many things. The lack of feeling for individuals that a person sees in that movie, the lack of feeling for places like what is going on in Newark—how did this happen? You don’t have to revere your family, you don’t have to revere your country, you don’t have to revere where you live, but you have to know you have them, you have to know that you are part of them. Because if you don’t, you are just out there on your own and I feel for you. I honestly do. […]”

Related Characters: Lou Levov (speaker), Seymour “The Swede” Levov, Dawn Dwyer, Merry Levov

Page Number and Citation: 365

Explanation and Analysis:

But whether he was or wasn’t running the show no longer mattered, because if Merry and Rita Cohen were connected, in any way, if Merry had lied to him about not knowing Rita Cohen, then she might as easily have been lying about being taken in by Sheila after the bombing. If that was so, when Dawn and Orcutt ran off to live in this cardboard house, he and Sheila could run off to Puerto Rico after all. And if, as a result, his father dropped dead, well, they’d just have to bury him. That’s what they’d do: bury him deep in the ground.

Related Characters: Nathan Zuckerman (speaker), Seymour “The Swede” Levov, Dawn Dwyer, Merry Levov, Lou Levov, Bill Orcutt, Rita Cohen, Sheila Salzman

Related Symbols: Old Rimrock

Page Number and Citation: 369

Explanation and Analysis:

Dawn Dwyer Character Timeline in American Pastoral

The timeline below shows where the character Dawn Dwyer appears in American Pastoral. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Family, Responsibility, and Duty Theme Icon

...on to work at his father’s company. He then married the 1949 Miss New Jersey, Dawn Dwyer of Elizabeth, New Jersey. (full context)

The Irrationality of Suffering Theme Icon

The Swede could have married anyone he wished, and instead he married Dawn Dwyer. They were a beautiful couple. “She’s post-Catholic, he’s post-Jewish, together they’re going to go... (full context)

...he has done what he has never done before: he’s made fun of her. Amid Dawn, who constantly puts pressure on Merry to improve her speech, and the teachers who stop... (full context)

...beautiful, and with wealthy parents. Her stutter is the only thing that holds her back. Dawn takes her to regular sessions with a speech therapist over in Morristown. On Saturdays, she... (full context)

...speak with their senator. She calls North Vietnam the “Democratic Republic of Vietnam,” much to Dawn’s annoyance. The Swede urges Dawn to let Merry be—she has a political stance, and that’s... (full context)

It’s around this time that Dawn and Merry start to fight nonstop. Dawn tells Merry that she should be thankful to... (full context)

...the Swede tells her she’s grounded. Merry protests the punishment, suggesting that the Swede and Dawn are “spewing [their] fear” onto Merry and trying to make her as afraid of the... (full context)

...him anything about Merry, but Rita refuses. She insists that Merry hates the Swede and Dawn and never wants to speak with them again. Antagonistically, Rita asks how much the Swede... (full context)

Rita shifts her focus to Dawn, accusing her of trying “to make [Merry] into a debutante.” When the Swede argues that... (full context)

In retrospect, the Swede thinks, he should have told the FBI about Rita Cohen. But Dawn, in her desperation to see Merry again, insists they try to handle things themselves and... (full context)

Out of love for Dawn, the Swede arranges to meet Rita Cohen at a room in the New York Hilton.... (full context)

...Her stutter seemed to lessen when she was focused on a project, so he and Dawn had happily encouraged it. It seemed “totally innocent” then, and realistically no parent would have... (full context)

...missing girl later reports that they know their daughter is safe. Meanwhile the Swede and Dawn have no such knowledge of Merry, who, unlike “these privileged townhouse bombers” is “innocent.” (full context)

...erupts in flames. He shows no sign of pain at all. In contrast, the Swede, Dawn, and Merry are horrified at the televised self-immolation. The only words 11-year-old Merry can say... (full context)

...Swede can’t go into town without seeing where the general store once stood. He and Dawn hear gossip about them around town (“What can you expect? They have no business being... (full context)

...other villagers. The owners are new to town and care little of the past, but Dawn refuses to shop at the store. The Swede makes a point to go there on... (full context)

...the Swede totally unexpected, though he has waited for it for years. By this time, Dawn has finally thrown herself into designing their new house, having spent years praying for the... (full context)

While in the hospital, Dawn would reminisce about her younger years as Miss New Jersey, asking in vain how she... (full context)

Driving home from the hospital, the Swede tries to remember Dawn as the young woman she really was when he first met her, who was really... (full context)

Not long after the reunion letter’s arrival, Dawn undergoes a “change” and suddenly becomes invested in reclaiming her life. It begins with the... (full context)

But the Swede is wrong. Dawn recovers from the operation and feels renewed confidence in herself. From there, she decides to... (full context)

But the Swede can’t ignore Dawn’s determination to sell the house. He even refrains from pointing out the real reason she... (full context)

The Swede wonders if things might have been different if they’d had more children. But Dawn didn’t want “to be the slavish mom to half a dozen kids and the nursemaid... (full context)

The Swede notices the male attention Dawn receives, but it never bothers him. Dawn, for her part, resents her beauty and the... (full context)

Dawn throws herself into raising beef cattle, studying books and poring through catalogs featuring different animals... (full context)

Dawn works hard every day. When her first prized cow, Count, gets old and wanders off... (full context)

The Swede remembers the immediate aftermath of the bombing. Dawn was sedated at the time, so the Swede went alone to the Hamlins’ to give... (full context)

...words to hear coming from such a young child. She confided in him how hard Dawn was on her, how she cared so much about Merry’s clothes and hair. When Merry... (full context)

In fifth grade, Merry gave Dawn a Mother’s Day gift she made in school. The students were supposed to write something... (full context)

...recognized Merry. In that moment, he knows it is “too much to bring home to Dawn’s new face.” He wants to run from the figure, but he cannot: she is his... (full context)

...clothing. She is so thin she looks emaciated. The Swede shudders at the thought of Dawn coming here and seeing how Merry lives. Now, he reads the five “vows” Merry has... (full context)

...he can do about it now. He thinks about the deep, physical love he and Dawn had for Merry, and he cannot understand how all this has happened to Merry—a loved... (full context)

...done yet. He attacks the Swede for his fake life—for the Jewish Swede and Catholic Dawn living out in Old Rimrock, “playing at being Wasps.” The Swede thought he could keep... (full context)

...on TV. The Swede’s parents have been up visiting from Florida the past week, but Dawn hasn’t had to worry about entertaining them—they’ve been glued to the TV screen. Lou Levov... (full context)

Back in 1973, the Swede returns home to Dawn and his parents. There are no messages for him from Mary Stoltz. When his mother... (full context)

Later, Lou remarks on how great Dawn looks. He was against her face-lift at first, but he’s changed his mind. She looks... (full context)

In addition to Sylvia and Lou, the Levovs are also having Bill and Jessie Orcutt—Dawn’s architect and his wife—over for dinner. The Orcutts have been neighbors of the Levovs for... (full context)

Dawn declines the invitation. She doesn’t like Bill Orcutt, finding “Ivy League guys” like him pretentious.... (full context)

...ancestors, more prominent members of Morristown. Later, though the Swede sings Orcutt’s praises to spite Dawn’s “Irish resentment,” he wonders if it’s true: did Orcutt emphasize all his prominent forebearers just... (full context)

...All that matters is that Orcutt is fair and respectful to the Swede. He and Dawn have their hundred acres of America—they’ve “done it.” They can live how they like. And... (full context)

The Swede thinks back to when Dawn was pregnant with Merry. Sylvia Levov had surprised the Swede by asking if Dawn was... (full context)

...nor Catholic, nor Protestant. “Johnny Appleseed was just a happy American.” The Swede recalls how Dawn once saw him approaching the house, a grocery bag in hand, as he pretended to... (full context)

...years, a Morristown frame shop holds an exhibition of his abstract art. The Swede and Dawn attend, and the Swede feel awkward that he can’t make sense of any of Orcutt’s... (full context)

Dawn insists Bill Orcutt’s paintings are thought provoking and buys one—for $5,000. In the house in... (full context)

...cardboard model of the new Levov house and presents it to the guests after dinner. Dawn gushes over all the natural light that will spill in through the new house’s many... (full context)

The Orcutts came to dinner early so that Bill and Dawn could go over some issues with the new garage’s design. The two discuss the issue... (full context)

...drinking after the last of the couple’s grown children left home. Bill Orcutt apparently told Dawn that Jessie is on the verge of a “manic upswing.” Jessie today is a far... (full context)

...Orcutt, in his pink linen pants and gaudy Hawaiian shirt (a style of dress which Dawn earlier called “Wasp extremism”), grinding up against Dawn from behind as she shucks corn at... (full context)

...sense, the Swede thinks now, for Merry to come from someone like Marcia—but not from Dawn. Dawn can’t stand Marcia because she knows Marcia can’t stand her for being a former... (full context)

Dawn, for her part, suspects Marcia of being responsible for harboring Merry after the bombing. She... (full context)

...to make from the start: that it’s a disgrace for the Swede to have taken Dawn to see Deep Throat (everyone at dinner but the Orcutts, Sylvia, and Lou have seen... (full context)

...not has nothing to do with what others do. The Swede thinks back to when Dawn first started talking about getting a face-lift. He went to Shelly for advice on the... (full context)

...With her fair hair, they jokingly insist she can’t be Jewish. This has always annoyed Dawn, particularly when Merry came to idolize Sheila when Sheila was her speech therapist. Looking at... (full context)

...asking if they’d rather be a porn star or a cocktail waitress. Neither Sheila nor Dawn play along. “Up yours, Marcia,” Dawn replies sweetly. (full context)

In this moment, the Swede processes the fact that Dawn has a lover. He realizes that the face-lift—which the Swede had paid for and comforted... (full context)

...dinner tells the Swede he has a phone call. The Swede takes the call in Dawn’s downstairs study. It’s Rita Cohen. “They” have been following him, Rita tells him. Angrily, she... (full context)

...the Umanoffs and Bill Orcutt are once more chatting amiably together. Sylvia is chatting with Dawn and the Salzmans. The Swede lies and tells Dawn he was taking a business call. ... (full context)

...realizes Orcutt has always been no good. He comments on seeing Orcutt’s model home in Dawn’s office, noting “I think you’re going to be very happy in it,” not realizing his... (full context)

The Swede returns to Dawn and holds her hand, and he realizes then that he cannot imagine life without her,... (full context)

The Swede members how he secretly brought Dawn to the factory to meet with Lou, to try to resolve their differences. He pleaded... (full context)

The Swede next recalls Lou’s discovery of Merry’s baptismal certificate—Dawn had done it in secret, with her mother, and she only told the Swede after... (full context)

The scene returns to the meeting between Dawn and Lou at the factory that the Swede arranged before he and Dawn married. Lou... (full context)

Lou asks what Dawn’s parents say about Jewish people. Dawn at first just says that when she was a... (full context)

The subject of children arises, and Dawn admits she’d like for her child to be baptized. She explains that it’s about washing... (full context)

Eventually, though, Lou caved. Dawn and the Swede were married, and Merry was born and secretly baptized. Until Dawn’s father... (full context)

Back in the present, Dawn happily recalls a trip to Europe she, the Swede, and Merry took when Merry was... (full context)

Dawn carries on about the Levovs’ European vacation. Sheila listens intently, and the Swede thinks she... (full context)

Sheila, meanwhile, looks dull and “severely withheld” compared to Dawn. The Swede cannot grasp how he once found her more attractive than Dawn and contemplates... (full context)

...irrational reasons that people long for a lifelong mate. Sheila, ever inquisitive, would know. Meanwhile, Dawn continues to talk about Europe. Sheila asks about the farms in Zug, and her interest... (full context)