Paul Blackenhurst Character Analysis

In the black notebook, along with Jimmy and Ted, Paul Blackenhurst is one of the three (ex-)homosexual Oxford-educated airmen who join the socialist group with Anna and Willi Rodde. While Anna is dating Willi, she is secretly in love with Paul, and they elope to the veld on their final night at the Mashopi Hotel. Paul becomes the model for the protagonist of Anna’s first novel, Frontiers of War. He comes from a wealthy and powerful English family; he is charming but heartless and enjoys mocking and insulting people around him (especially those who have lived their whole lives in the Colonies). He spends most of his days arguing about politics with Willi—Paul’s socialism, like his homosexuality, is feigned, and he loves making fun of Willi’s serious commitment to the revolution. Partially out of jest and partially to make a point about British racism, Paul starts a friendship with the Boothbys’ cook Jackson, which eventually leads to a drawn-out feud between the socialists and Mrs Boothby. The day he is supposed to deploy to India, Paul goes to the airfield drunk and, blinded by the sun, walks into an active airplane propeller that dismembers and kills him.