Marcus Eaton

Character Analysis

Exile on Lame Street

We can think of one word to describe Marcus in this book: powerless. Seriously, he basically has no power whatsoever.

He's exiled early on (less for being a dirty traitor and more for the fact that he beat his wife and child), but he stays behind in an effort to wrest control of the Allegiant from Johanna. Tobias finally accepts how terrible his father is, remembering, "He told me: that I was broken, that I was worthless, that I was nothing. How many of those things did he make me believe?" (31.32).

So not only does his own son reject him, but it's actually part of Johanna's agreement with Evelyn that Marcus not be in charge of anything, ever. We wouldn't even trust him to charge a battery. That's pretty much the worst punishment you can imagine for an abusive power-hungry control freak: take away his ability to control, remove everyone he can abuse, and just ignore him until he goes away.

We have no idea where he goes, and, like Tobias, we don't even care. Good riddance.