Duke

Duke is the man who takes control of Sarah’s life, renames her Angel, and subjects her to years of exploitation and coercion. His repeated recapture of her and threats against those who help her make him more than a single antagonist: he embodies the violence and ownership that Angel struggles to escape, even after she is physically elsewhere.

Identity and Control

Duke gives Sarah the name Angel and immediately asserts authority over her, taking her by the hand and placing her on a bed under the pretext of having things to teach her. His language presents control as permanent: he insists that she belongs to him and claims he will endure beyond her. The Alpha and Omega language reinforces his effort to make escape seem impossible.

Angel’s later reflections show that this control is sustained by repeated recapture. She recalls running away at fourteen with Johnny, who hoped to take something from Duke and use it, while she wanted only to get away. Neither achieved what they sought; Duke brought them back, and Johnny was eventually killed. Angel remembers that Duke’s retaliation against helpers could be harder to bear than what he did to her herself.

Methods and Consequences

Duke punishes Angel for trying to flee and teaches her to survive by pretending to welcome what men demand or, when she cannot, pretending not to care. This practiced mask is a response to coercion, not evidence of consent. It allows her to endure while deepening the separation between her outward performance and her fear and anger.

Angel later tells Michael that Rab sold her to a brothel and that Duke targeted young girls. She also describes the lasting effects of what was done to her: she cannot make the past disappear, feels unable to become clean, and says she has wanted to die. Her account connects Duke’s abuse to a wider history of exploitation and to the shame Angel has been made to carry.

Duke’s control also extends to Angel’s reproductive life. She recalls that after becoming pregnant twice, a doctor ended both pregnancies at Duke’s direction; after the second, he ordered that she never be able to become pregnant again. The resulting infertility becomes a painful disclosure in her relationship with Michael, showing how Duke’s authority over her body continues to shape her future.

Return and Threats

When Duke reappears, he recognizes Angel’s apparent defiance as a mask and notes her fear beneath it. He tells her that she is back where she belongs and threatens to kill Michael as he killed Johnny, saying he will make Angel watch. His words revive the pattern that has governed her life: escape is met with renewed possession, and resistance carries danger for the people around her.

Duke later gives Angel a stark ultimatum: she can manage the girls or become one of them. When she defies him onstage, he drags her away and demands an explanation. The confrontation ends with a decisive reversal. Angel takes the key from the chain around his neck, tells him he cannot have her, and asks a waiting gentleman to wait for her. Duke’s claim of ownership is rejected at the very moment she chooses to leave.

Narrative Role and Significance

Duke’s influence persists beyond his immediate presence. Memories of him intrude into Angel’s later experiences, and his threats make the possibility of safety difficult to trust. His recurring returns give the escape narrative its central pattern: Angel seeks freedom, Duke attempts to reassert possession, and the consequences extend to those who aid her.

The novel sets Duke’s language of belonging against Angel’s final act of self-determination. His power depends on making ownership sound absolute; her taking the key and leaving with another person breaks that claim in action. The ending does not erase the history he imposed, but it marks a crucial change: Angel acts against him rather than merely surviving his control.