Sara Plankmore

Sara Plankmore is a third-year law student whose place in the story is defined largely through Rudy Baylor’s memories of their relationship and his struggle to accept its end. She was the only woman he had ever loved; after they studied together in a secluded library carrel, she left him for an old friend, and the prospect of seeing her with her fiancé makes him avoid graduation.

Identity and Background

Sara is a student at Memphis State Law School and is in her third year when Rudy reflects on their relationship. The account gives little independent information about her life beyond law school, but it establishes that she had known the man she later chose since high school. Their earlier acquaintance would become important when they encountered each other again during Christmas break.

Relationship with Rudy

During their romance, Sara joined Rudy in his favorite study carrel in the law-school library. The enclosed space let them study side by side and share affectionate, playful moments away from other people’s attention. For Rudy, the carrel becomes inseparable from her memory: returning to it after the breakup brings his grief back sharply, and he considers finding another place to study because the familiar surroundings remind him of her.

Rudy says Sara ended the relationship four months before the events he recounts. During Christmas break, she and her old high-school friend crossed paths again, rekindled their romance, and she told Rudy that she hated doing this to him but that life went on. The breakup leaves him distressed. When he first hears a rumor that she may be pregnant, he describes his reaction as overwhelming, but the pregnancy remains unconfirmed hearsay rather than an established fact.

Separation and Graduation

By the time Rudy is finishing law school, Sara is engaged to S. Todd Wilcox, the old friend with whom she renewed her relationship. Rudy does not know whether her family will attend graduation, but the possibility that he might see Sara photographed with her fiancé is enough to make the ceremony unbearable to contemplate. His concern about possibly seeing signs of the pregnancy rumor adds to his dread; neither her attendance nor the rumor is confirmed.

Rudy skips graduation and goes to a law office instead, explaining his absence to Booker Kane as the result of job interviews. His decision has other pressures behind it, including his unemployment and fear of facing classmates who have found work, but avoiding the possibility of seeing Sara is one of the personal reasons he gives himself for staying away.

Narrative Role

Sara is presented through Rudy’s first-person recollections rather than through scenes in which her own perspective is available. That imbalance matters: the library carrel records the intimacy he remembers, while his account of the breakup conveys his pain and uncertainty, not an independent explanation of Sara’s choices. Her return to an old relationship and engagement mark a clear change in their circumstances; the evidence does not describe a reconciliation. In the midst of Rudy’s professional and financial anxieties, his memories of Sara show how private heartbreak continues to shape his attention and decisions.