Katherine Sexton

Katherine Sexton is an absent but consequential figure whose memory links private betrayal to public ambition. Her husband’s infidelity and hypocrisy shaped Rachel Sexton’s judgment of him, while Katherine’s death left behind an inheritance that Sedgewick Sexton later squandered, helping reveal the weakness beneath his lavish presidential campaign.

Identity and Marriage

Katherine was married to Sedgewick Sexton and was Rachel’s mother. Rachel recalls her father coming home late night after night, smug and smelling of perfume, while presenting a feigned religious zeal and lying and cheating. Rachel’s account emphasizes the imbalance of the marriage: Sedgewick knew Katherine would never leave him, and his conduct therefore continued without the consequence of separation.

Memory and Rachel’s Judgment

Katherine’s memory is the counterweight Rachel uses whenever she feels tenderness toward her father. As Rachel approaches the press area before an announcement expected to damage his campaign, she asks herself whether he deserves the political blow about to fall. Remembering what he did to Katherine settles the question: Rachel concludes that he deserves it. Her mother’s suffering thus turns an abstract political reckoning into a personal judgment grounded in an earlier betrayal.

Death and Inheritance

Katherine had died before the events surrounding the campaign. Marjorie Tench invokes her death while speaking to Gabrielle Ashe, describing it as a blow to Sedgewick and asking whether it was recent; the passage marks that display of sympathy as feigned. Tench then presents financial records covering several years and argues that Sedgewick squandered most of Katherine’s legacy after her death on bad investments, personal comforts, and efforts to secure victory in the primaries. She says that six months earlier he was broke, despite currently outspending the President four to one.

Political and Narrative Significance

Katherine’s role is carried through consequences rather than direct action: her marital suffering informs Rachel’s hostility, and the loss of her legacy becomes part of the evidence Tench uses to challenge Gabrielle’s confidence in Sedgewick’s apparent wealth. The contrast is pointed. The candidate’s expanding advertising buys suggest abundance, while the account of Katherine’s squandered inheritance suggests that his campaign rests on money he does not have. Her memory therefore connects family history to the public contest, exposing the personal cost and financial fragility concealed by political performance.