Babe Blye Character Analysis in The Warmth of Other Suns

Babe Blye is Reuben Blye’s younger brother and one of George Starling’s closest lifelong friends. As foremen in the 1930s and 1940s, he and Reuben help George negotiate better wages for the citrus pickers. In New York, he works at a car-painting factory and lives upstairs from George for several years. They organize poker parties together, but Babe keeps losing their money and George eventually catches him cheating. Babe later returns to Florida, where he dies in 1976.

Babe Blye Character Timeline in The Warmth of Other Suns

The timeline below shows where the character Babe Blye appears in The Warmth of Other Suns. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Decision, Consequence, and Regret Theme Icon

...foremen come through town and pick up the best workers. When he can, George joins Babe and Reuben Blye, the only Black foremen. Like with cotton, fruit pickers are paid by... (full context)

Eustis, Florida, 1944. “Lil George’s roving union” makes waves in town. Babe and Reuben Blye, some of the only Black foremen, help George negotiate reasonable prices for... (full context)

...cover by throwing poker parties. George starts attending and then throwing his own parties with Babe Blye (now his upstairs tenant). But Babe keeps losing their money, and then George catches... (full context)

...“a retreat, an admission of failure or […] the end of life itself.” For instance, Babe Blye never wanted to go back to Florida. But when Babe realized he was terminally... (full context)