Turtle Moon: Julian Cash

In Alice Hoffman’s novel, Turtle Moon, a main character is Julian Cash, a police officer who is withdrawn from his small town, Verity. The initial impression the author gives about Julian is his cold and brutal characteristics. The author then develops him throughout the novel into a sociable, and warmhearted character. This is important as the character’s development further illustrates the novel’s message, that love can be found anywhere, even in Verity.

In the beginning of the novel, his lack of relationships and how reluctant he is to form them is portrayed. Although he is a police officer in a small town he “never sat down once for a cup of coffee with any of his fellow officers,” and as a result is disliked by other officers. In truth he is a loner, obsessed and fixated on his work, as he “has spent his entire adult life tracking down lost people.” He is a man who “sees no reason for neighbors,” isolating himself from people, refraining from any form of contact or relationship. Julian’s introvert qualities are displayed, continuously, for he keeps his innermost thoughts and feelings to himself and guides others to follow his approach by saying, “I hate people who talk a lot.” He does not want anyone involved in his life and attempts to maintain that outlook. Since childhood he “had a bad streak; you could see it just by looking at him.” He became a growing problem, for “as he grew older he looked for trouble.” His aversion to a relationship with anyone is proved once again from his childhood as “Julian knows that since he was twelve, he didn’t want anyone to be close to him.” And so constantly the reader is reminded of Julian Cash, as a bad man, cold-blooded and mentally withdrawn from society.

Julian matures to become an admirable character through developments in relationships with other characters in the text. He becomes an increasingly respectful character as he shows the potential to be loved and to love. His latent ability to love emerges whenever