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The entire story is categorised by the women in Hiram's life. There's a female character present from his ex wives, daughters, mistresses and the lovers he meets while on the run. In all these women, which characters helped forged his bad character and who helped led him on the path of self reflection and transformation?

I think Maud and Sophie drove him towards reflection and transformation whereas Carole and Maria, even though their intentions were good, drove him towards the bad things and led him into a dark place

Kishor Rao wrote: ↑24 Oct 2018, 01:14 I think Maud and Sophie drove him towards reflection and transformation whereas Carole and Maria, even though their intentions were good, drove him towards the bad things and led him into a dark place

I agree. I liked Maud the most because she didn't coddle his ego.

I think Maud drove him to redemption. She did not empathize with him and she made him realize what a terrible person he previously was and ultimately come out of that and become better.

I think Hulga and Winona also help him to become a more loving, sensitive and grateful human being as they treat him kindly and lovingly.

Maud tries to change the perspective of Hiram, about the circumstances he is facing in life and he seems to ponder over it.

Maud told him what he didn't want to hear but it was the truth, Winona brought out the human being in him. No woman can be blamed for his bad side, he was a grown up and he chose to be bad himself.

Maud, Selena, Hulga and Winona helped to positively transform Hiram's personality. They gradually helped the kinder side of Hiram unfold and become a greater part of his personality. I don't think the women in the earlier part of his life influenced him negatively. It was more about who he was at that time, before his life took a turn for the worse.

I think maud was the first to give him an opportunity to discuss aspects of his life and didn’t judge him. He was able to share some of his experiences with her and trust people instead of isolating himself completely.

I think it's ridiculous to suggest that any of the women "forged his bad character." McDowell's bad behavior stemmed from his own attitude of narcissism. HIs "transformation" only occurred when he started to step back and look at things from a different perspective. We are not "forged" by others. We define ourselves by how we choose to respond to situations and people around us.

I think the idea of influence on Hiram's character appears to me less like any particular woman made him bad or helped him be a good person. Maud resonated with Hiram as a strong woman who Hiram cared for, even though she didn't behave how he expects. Sophie reminds him how strong she was, and her influence was clearly deeper than any other woman in Hiram's life. That's one of the few moments where Hiram starts to reflect on his responsibility, but he still doesn't generally get better from that point aside from being a supportive father in some ways.

I think Maud for sure helped him to correct his attitude towards others. I also think that Sophie helped but not as much. I’m quite sad that Ann didn’t really seem to influence his change much.

I think Maud did help Hiram transform positively a lot.

For me, I think Maud played a great role in influencing and positively changing Hiram's perspective of life. Maud mostly disagreed with Hiram, she told him the painful truth which Hiram found hard to accept but after every argument Hiram always contemplated on Maud's advice. So I would say that Maud is a significant female character who made positive impacts on Hiram.

Thank goodness for Maud! Before her, Hiram was a despicable character. After her involvement, he changed.