CHARACTERS

In A Complicated Kindness, there are several main characters that contribute to the mood, theme and tone of the novel. Listed below are seven dominant characters with individual personalities and life experiences.

Naomi Nickel

Naomi, also known as Nomi, is the sixteen-year-old protagonist in this novel. Her family consists of her mother Gertrude Nickel (Trudie), her father Raymond Nickel (Ray), and her older sister Natasha Dawn Nickel (Tash). Naomi is seen as rebellious, curious, hopeless and depressed. Throughout the novel, Naomi struggles to accept the fact that her mother and sister have left the Mennonite community. She continuously recalls the past memories with her happy and united family. She lives with her father until she is excommunicated from the Mennonite from the church.

Natasha Dawn Nickel

Natasha Dawn Nickel, also known as Tash, is Naomi's sister who is four years older. Natasha cannot tolerate the Mennonite culture anymore, thus she leaves with her boyfriend, abandoning her father, mother and sister. Due to this departure, her uncle who is the head pastor of the Mennonite church firmly believes that she will go to hell for disobeying the Mennonite church. Natasha is seen as one of the main rebels in the Mennonite community.

Gertrude Dora Nickel

Gertrude Dora Nickel, also known as Trudie, is Naomi and Natasha's mother. Throughout the novel, Trudie does not come up physically, but rather she is explained through Naomi's descriptions. After Natasha leaves the Mennonite community, Trudie's brother Hans who is the head pastor of the Mennonite church, convinces naive Naomi to believe that her sister will go to hell. Trudie claims that Hans knows nothing about love and that he must stop establishing punitive regulations for the Mennonite community. Trudie gets frustrated with her brother, as he does not change his mindset, leading up to her abandoning Naomi and Ray.

Raymond Nickel

Raymond Nickel, also known as Ray, is Naomi and Natasha's father. Ray is quiet and tries his best to supply Naomi with fulfillment since half of the Nickel family has departed. He works as a teacher. As the novel continues, Ray disposes of the furniture in their house piece by piece to illustrate how his life has parallels to the ruined furniture in the dump. Both his life and the furniture are crumbling and falling apart.

Lydia Voth

Lydia Voth, also known as Lids, is Naomi's best friend. Lydia suffers from an undiagnosed condition, which causes her to feel sharp pains without even coming in contact with anything. Lydia gets transported to a mental hospital. Not only does Naomi have troubles with her family missing, but also she now has to take on another issue of how her best friend is ill. When Naomi is in need of someone to talk to, Lydia will listen to her problems, regardless of the fact that she is ill. Naomi is concerned for Lydia as she does her best to visit Lydia in the hospital frequently and even aids her in washing her hair. The reason why Naomi is able to embrace her best friend so well is because she appreciates how Lydia never judges her.

Travis

Travis is Naomi's former boyfriend. He triggers Naomi's rebellious attitude. In the Mennonite community, it is against the law to participate in many activities that teenagers enjoy. These include swimming, dancing, drinking, wearing jewelry, or staying up past nine o'clock. Naomi's adventures with Travis always past these regulations to create excitement in her depressing life.

Hans Rosenfeldt

Hans Rosenfeldt, also known as The Mouth, contributes to the antagonist role. Hans is the head pastor of the Mennonite church and he promotes his destructive beliefs daily. He has brainwashed his niece, Naomi, into thinking that Natasha will go to hell for departing from the Mennonite community. Hans is powerful and only has one mindset. He fails to see any other point of view than his own.