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Deacon (Deek) Morgan/Connie’s Lover
Steward Morgan is Deek’s twin brother and one of the leaders of Ruby. He is the more outspoken of the brothers, known for “inflammatory speech” in contrast to his subtler brother. The twins work together in all things, maintaining their stronghold over Ruby without ever needing to discuss it with each other. Steward and his wife Dovey are unable to have children, so Steward takes K.D. under his wing to groom as the Morgan heir. Steward is also violently opposed to any deviation from his notions of acceptable femininity, and his fixation on what a woman should be drives his hatred for the Convent. This culminates in Steward leading the attack on the Convent, where his murder of Connie drives a rift between Steward and Deek.
Steward Morgan Quotes in Paradise
The Paradise quotes below are all either spoken by Steward Morgan or refer to Steward Morgan. 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:
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Grace Quotes
However disgusted both were, K.D. knew they would not negotiate a solution that would endanger him or the future of Morgan money. His grandfather had named his twins Deacon and Steward for a reason. And their family had not built two towns, fought white law, Colored Creek, bandits and bad weather, to see ranches and houses and a bank with mortgages on a feed store, a drugstore and a furniture store to end up in Arnold Fleetwood’s pocket. Since the loose bones of his cousins had been buried two years ago, K.D., their hope and their despair, was the last male in [the] line […]. His behavior, as always, required scrutiny and serious correction.
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Seneca Quotes
[Steward] wondered if that generation––Misner’s and K.D.’s––would have to be sacrificed to get to the next one. The grand- and great-grandchildren who could be trained, honed as his own father and grandfather had down for Steward’s generation. No breaks there; no slack cut then. Expectations were high and met. Nobody took more responsibility for their behavior than those good men.
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[Elder] never got the sight of that whiteman’s fist in that colored woman’s face out of his mind. Whatever he felt about her trade, he thought about her, prayed for her till the end of his life. […] Steward liked that story, but it unnerved him to know it was based on the defense of and prayers for a whore. He did not sympathize with the whitemen, but he could see their point, could even feel the adrenaline, imagining the fist was his own.
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Lone Quotes
The women in the Convent were for [Steward] a flaunting parody of the nineteen Negro ladies of his and his brother’s youthful memory and perfect understanding. They were the degradation of that moment they’d shared of sunlit skin and verbena. They, with their mindless giggling, outraged the dulcet tones, the tinkling in the merry and welcoming laughter of the nineteen ladies who, scheduled to live forever in pastel shaded dreams, were now doomed to extinction by this new and obscene breed of female. He could not abide them for […] desecrating the vision that carried him and his brother through a war, that imbued their marriages and strengthened their efforts to build a town where the vision could flourish.
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Steward Morgan Character Timeline in Paradise
The timeline below shows where the character Steward Morgan appears in Paradise. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Ruby
A pair of twins (Steward and Deek) approach the cellar. They are the town’s protectors and lead the charge against...
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In 1949, Steward and Deek convince the other boys of Haven to join forces and create a town...
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Grace
In 1970, K.D., the nephew of Deek and Steward Morgan, is sitting with his friends by the Oven when he sees a woman (Gigi)...
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K.D. tells his uncles Deek and Steward about the incident with Arnette. They are appalled, but he knows they will act in...
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The Morgans drive to the Fleetwoods’ house, and Deek and Steward scold K.D. for having sex with a Fleetwood. K.D. is unbothered. He remembers a summer...
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Seneca
...she can make for dinner that will satisfy her “picky” husband. She is married to Steward Morgan, and her sister Soane is married to Deek. When Dovey thinks of Steward, she...
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...cowardice. They believe the initial engraving was “Be the Furrow of His Brow.” Deek and Steward, along Harper Jury (another Ruby founding father) and the conservative Reverend Pulliam, argue that the...
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Meanwhile, Steward rages about the younger generation’s disrespect. He believes they have no idea what their elders...
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Steward arrives at home and thinks of the story his grandfather Zechariah told him about founding...
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...one occasion, he remembers a day in 1932 when his father brought young Deek and Steward on a tour of all-Black towns. By this time, many of the towns were failing,...
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...K.D. the sole Morgan heir. Deek misses K.D.’s mother Ruby and regrets that he and Steward failed to protect her in her final moments––she died because every hospital they visited denied...
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...husband accepts some aspirin from Misner. They leave, despite Anna’s warnings of a blizzard, and Steward comes inside to ask about the white visitors. Anna raises her concern about Billie Delia,...
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Divine
Steward watches Misner with uncharacteristic calmness, pondering the crosses he has seen borne by white supremacists,...
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The wedding reception starts calmly, with Steward and Deek maintaining control through the silent conversations they eternally conduct with each other. Soon,...
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Lone
Lone fails to grasp the extent of Steward and Deek’s rage. She correctly assesses that they can’t abide by what they cannot control,...
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The men slowly approach the Convent. A white woman emerges, and Steward shoots her immediately, filling the other men with confidence. Deek gives the orders, and the...
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...its foundation. Dovey and Soane, quickly set out for the Convent. Dovey thinks about how Steward’s successes have always led to loss, and she hopes that he will not ruin everything...
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...Connie runs in to defend them, but she pauses and smiles when she sees Deek. Steward shoots her just as Dovey and Soane arrive to witness it.
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...in the massacre. She is never identified by name. Deek tends to Connie, and when Steward claims to Pious that the men were defending themselves and the town against the women’s...
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Save-Marie
K.D. and Arnette, who is pregnant again, are building a new house on Steward’s property with the hopes of earning more status in town. The distinguishing visual features between...
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...Misner’s house. He is grappling with a new sense of solitude after distancing himself from Steward. Misner welcomes him in, and Deek speaks openly about his feelings for the first time...
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