Rev. Robert Boughton Character Analysis in Gilead

Boughton is Gilead’s retired Presbyterian minister, a widower, and John’s lifelong best friend. John’s main confidant throughout his life, Boughton came over regularly during John’s solitary years so that they could work on their sermons together. Though he is younger than John, he suffers from terrible arthritis and rarely leaves home. His daughter Glory lives with him. Because Boughton has aged so much, John most often describes him in retrospect—in his younger days, he was a strong man and a gifted preacher. Nowadays he’s severely stooped and sometimes cranky from the discomfort; his biggest enjoyment is his children (he has four daughters and four sons), especially his beloved son Jack. John sometimes envied Boughton’s lively family life, and knowing that John might never have children, Boughton named Jack after John and intended for them to have a special relationship. However, Jack has mostly caused his father heartache and disgrace over the years. After Jack fathered a child in college, Boughton and his wife, in anguish, often visited the baby and her mother and offered support, but nothing seemed to help. Decades later, Jack returns to Gilead intending to tell his father about his marriage to Della and their son, but when he sees how frail his father has become, he changes his mind and confides in John instead.

Rev. Robert Boughton Quotes in Gilead

The Gilead quotes below are all either spoken by Rev. Robert Boughton or refer to Rev. Robert Boughton. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

And old Boughton, if he could stand up out of his chair, out of his decrepitude and crankiness and sorrow and limitation, would abandon all those handsome children of his, mild and confident as they are, and follow after that one son whom he has never known, whom he has favored as one does a wound, and he would protect him as a father cannot, defend him with a strength he does not have, sustain him with a bounty beyond any resource he could ever dream of having. If Boughton could be himself, he would utterly pardon every transgression, past, present, and to come, whether or not it was a transgression in fact or his to pardon. He would be that extravagant. That is a thing I would love to see.

Related Characters: Rev. John Ames (speaker), Rev. Robert Boughton, Jack (John Ames) Boughton, John’s Son (The Boy)

Page Number and Citation: 238

Explanation and Analysis:

As I have told you, I myself was the good son, so to speak, the one who never left his father’s house—even when his father did, a fact which surely puts my credentials beyond all challenge. I am one of those righteous for whom the rejoicing in heaven will be comparatively restrained. And that’s all right. There is no justice in love, no proportion in it, and there need not be, because in any specific instance it is only a glimpse or parable of an embracing, incomprehensible reality.

Related Characters: Rev. John Ames (speaker), John’s Son (The Boy), John’s Father, Rev. Robert Boughton, Jack (John Ames) Boughton

Page Number and Citation: 238

Explanation and Analysis:

Rev. Robert Boughton Character Timeline in Gilead

The timeline below shows where the character Rev. Robert Boughton appears in Gilead. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...recalls the blessing of getting to hold Angeline for a few minutes before she died. Boughton had named and baptized her before John got home. Otherwise, they would have named her... (full context)

Last Sunday during supper at Boughton’s, John noticed his son studying Boughton’s arthritic hands. While he looks older, Boughton is actually... (full context)

Memory, Vision, and Conviction Theme Icon

Boughton doesn’t care for Feuerbach because he shook many people’s faith, but John figures the fault... (full context)

Estrangement and Reconciliation Theme Icon

John paid Boughton a visit and found him distraught, as tomorrow would’ve been his 54th anniversary. Boughton told... (full context)

John remembers when he and Boughton were boys (Boughton was called Bobby then), and they’d sit on the warm roof of... (full context)

Boughton was taller than John for 40 years, but nowadays he’s completely stooped from arthritis, and... (full context)

...their pastor, mainly because he never wanted their sympathy—something he’d much rather give than receive. Boughton was the only person whose comfort he never minded. He wishes his son knew what... (full context)

Thinking about Boughton’s fine preaching reminds John of his stacks of old sermons. He supposes it’d be best... (full context)

...with the book, still reading the next morning. He felt sympathetic to the protagonist, though Boughton just said the character drank too much and was unsuited to his position. (full context)

...want his son to think that he doesn’t take his vocation very seriously. He and Boughton used to work on their sermons together at John’s house. Boughton came there since he... (full context)

Boughton laughs, too, when he hears the story. He’s in a good mood because he’s heard... (full context)

...he could help with, though he usually kept going, not wanting to intrude—sometimes past the Boughtons’, since he didn’t know what was troubling them in those days. He could walk through... (full context)

Glory comes by to warn John that Jack Boughton is home and will stop by in the next day or two. John feels he... (full context)

John Ames Boughton came to visit today. He greeted John as “Papa,” a name he’s called John since... (full context)

John came home for lunch today to find his son playing catch with Jack Boughton. He notes that he’s failed to get his son his own baseball glove and that... (full context)

John visited Boughton this morning. He’s in a good mood because Glory and Jack are clearing out his... (full context)

John thinks of Boughton’s dour old parents and what they must be like in heaven now. He likes to... (full context)

...sent “into the wilderness” in some sense, and even the wilderness belongs to God. Jack Boughton came to play catch with the boy today, and both the boy and his mother... (full context)

Last night Jack Boughton came by and chatted with John on the porch, until John invited him to stay... (full context)

John mentions it because it’s just so strange to find himself sitting there with Jack Boughton and his family, when not many years ago he used to sit there eating cold... (full context)

The article was in a 1948 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal; Boughton had marked an article to show John a long time ago. The article is called... (full context)

This afternoon John and his son walk to Boughton’s to return the magazine. Every once in a while, his son runs off to chase... (full context)

...people who claim they have no ideas about heaven to see how they manage it. Boughton says he has more ideas about heaven every day—he just multiplies the world’s glories by... (full context)

...article that Americans’ treatment of Black citizens seems to indicate “a lack of religious seriousness.” Boughton says it is easy to judge. This is the first John has seen of Jack... (full context)

John’s wife comes up to Boughton’s to tell them supper is ready. John coaxes her to stay for a moment, which... (full context)

...simply because that’s his fate. Glory excuses herself from the conversation at this point, and Boughton agrees that it probably won’t go anywhere useful, but John’s wife listens quietly. Jack is... (full context)

...of a person being saved if there’s no hope of them changing. She blushes, but Boughton tells her it’s a good question, one that he’s never found a good answer to. (full context)

...it’s not a situation that comes up very often. And when it comes to Jack Boughton, John has trouble believing he’s sincere. But as they’re walking home, his wife says that... (full context)

John adds that he has certain bonds with John Ames Boughton, his dearest friend’s beloved child, whom Boughton essentially gave to John as a consolation for... (full context)

...to John this always seemed cruel—Jack would have known that this grandchild would weigh on Boughton’s mind. One day, Glory even drove Boughton to the child’s home, but the family were... (full context)

John says this is all he needs to tell his son about Jack Boughton. Jack’s family loved the baby because they loved Jack so much; she looked just like... (full context)

...like a “gentleman” than a “codger.” Then he walked to church to wait for Jack Boughton and fell asleep in a pew. Before he fell asleep, he’d been praying for wisdom... (full context)

...that he wishes he could have been like his own father. When John says that Boughton has been an example to all of them, Jack looks grieved and frustrated. He says... (full context)

...a little photograph of Louisa. John was furious, yet he didn’t know how to tell Boughton. Eventually, the picture was quietly returned to him. As Jack grew older and got in... (full context)

...discouraged to think that he might end up being “bothered to death” because of Jack Boughton. He feels it’s “disgraceful” that he’s unable to speak to Jack as a pastor should.... (full context)

...hasn’t replied to John’s note. So, he writes another. When he’s dropping it off in Boughton’s mailbox, Jack is outside. He reads the note and thanks John for it, and they... (full context)

...especially since his grandfather had loved Weld’s preaching. But during the baptism, when John asked Boughton what the child’s name was to be, Boughton wept and instead said, “John Ames.” Jack... (full context)

To be honest, John says, it took him a long time to forgive Boughton for this. If he’d had any time to reflect, he probably would have felt differently.... (full context)

Once John dreamed that he and Boughton were looking for something in the shallows of the river, when suddenly his grandfather appeared... (full context)

...been strange. Glory invited Lila to the movies, and when she arrived, she dropped off Boughton. Boughton rarely leaves his house nowadays, and he seemed exhausted by the effort of coming... (full context)

While John and Boughton were still sitting there, Jack arrived, and John invited him in. He looked as if... (full context)

Jack Boughton has a wife and child. He showed John their picture for a moment. John wasn’t... (full context)

...a few reasons, chiefly to speak to his father. But he was shocked to find Boughton so aged and fragile. Instead of talking to Boughton, he said, he’s going to make... (full context)

...they are a fine-looking family. He asks if Jack is afraid this revelation would kill Boughton. Jack says it nearly killed his wife’s parents. Jack says they’ve been “married in the... (full context)

John is surprised to realize that he isn’t sure how Boughton would take this news. He and Boughton never talked about this—in all their discussion over... (full context)

...promised to come to Memphis when he had enough money. Weeks later, after writing to Boughton for help, he had enough money. While he waited, he often wandered to a tent... (full context)

...and their little boy go back to Memphis for a while. The little boy, Robert Boughton Miles, is a wonderful child, Jack says. He has a large, doting extended family and... (full context)

...could find a way to move his family to Gilead. He would have liked for Boughton to know that Jack finally had something to be proud of. Little Robert Boughton Miles... (full context)

John tells Jack that if he were Boughton, he would love to meet his child. He adds that Boughton certainly was fond of... (full context)

...down this whole conversation. But his son might never hear another good word about Jack Boughton, and he doesn’t know how else to let his son see the beauty in Jack. (full context)

Jack Boughton was in church, and it particularly embarrassed John to stand there reading an old sermon... (full context)

...to make small talk with the family, but Jack and Glory were clearly upset, and Boughton was just staring into space. Then John tried to do Jack a kindness and only... (full context)

...comes to speak to John about it. She doesn’t understand how Jack could leave when Boughton clearly doesn’t have much time left. John understands, though—the Boughton house will soon be filled... (full context)

Similarly, John knows that if Boughton could, he would walk away from his crowd of handsome, happy children to chase after... (full context)

...decides it’s time to bring his writing to an end. This morning he saw Jack Boughton walking toward the bus stop with a suitcase. John walked along with him and offered... (full context)

...he left his father to die without him. Yet it’s the kind of thing only Boughton would forgive him for. John assured Jack that he spoke to Glory about it, hinting... (full context)

...his favorite meals. His son’s face always looks too beautiful for John’s eyes. He wishes Boughton could have seen the way Jack received John’s blessing at the bus stop. He figures... (full context)

John had promised Jack he would say goodbye to Boughton for him. So this evening, he visited his friend, who has almost moved on from... (full context)

He sat beside Boughton’s bed for a long time and imagined how wonderful it would have been if Boughton... (full context)

Rev. Robert Boughton Character Analysis

Rev. Robert Boughton Quotes in Gilead

Pages 237-244 Quotes

Rev. Robert Boughton Character Timeline in Gilead