Margaret Morrow in Girl One: Character Analysis

Overview: The Architect and the Absent Mother

Margaret Morrow is the first Homestead mother and the biological mother of Josephine Morrow, known publicly as Girl One. She disappears from her home in Coeur du Lac, Illinois, in April 1994, setting the novel's central mystery in motion. Over the course of the narrative, Margaret's role expands from a missing person into a complex figure who both initiated the Homestead experiment and spent her later life trying to protect her daughter from its consequences. The novel presents her through multiple lenses: Josephine's childhood memories, the testimony of other Homestead mothers, Bellanger's letters, and ultimately her own actions in the desert compound. These perspectives often conflict, making Margaret a character defined by contradiction—simultaneously the ringleader who brought the women together and the woman who tore them apart, the devoted mother and the woman who kept her daughter at arm's length.

Plot Role: The Disappearance That Drives the Narrative

Margaret's disappearance in Chapter 2 is the inciting incident of the novel. Josephine learns of it from the evening news and returns home to find her mother's purse and car left behind, a fire having burned part of the house. Inside, she discovers that her bedroom has been ransacked—not by an intruder, but by her mother, who had been assembling a scrapbook listing the eight surviving mother-daughter pairs from the Homestead. This scrapbook, along with a Post-it note referencing journalist Thomas Abbott, becomes Josephine's first clue and launches her cross-country search.

Margaret's absence functions as a vacuum that draws out the novel's secrets. Each Homesteader Josephine visits reveals a different facet of her mother: Deb Clarkson describes her as a ringleader who recruited the women and contacted Bellanger first; Patricia Bishop claims Margaret planned to burn the Homestead to prevent Bellanger from gaining custody of the Girls; and Cate Bower shows Josephine a letter from Margaret to Bellanger dated November 10, 1969, proving the mothers knew him before the Homestead formed. These revelations accumulate until Josephine finally locates her mother in the desert compound, where Margaret has been held captive by Bellanger.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

Margaret's motivations are revealed gradually through her actions and the testimony of others. The 1969 letter to Bellanger shows her as the initiator, writing on behalf of a group of women who admired his work. Her 1973 interview in Time magazine reveals her commitment to the Homestead as her chosen family, stating she is not in touch with her parents and that her daughter's fatherlessness is what makes her special. This suggests a woman who deliberately sought an alternative to conventional family structures.

Her protective instincts emerge in the scrapbook she kept, documenting the last known locations of all the Homesteaders. This was not the work of a woman who had moved on from the past, but of someone who was tracking the others, likely out of concern for their safety. Patricia's account of the planned fire reveals Margaret's willingness to take drastic action to protect the Girls from Bellanger's custody attempts. When Patricia describes Margaret's plan to burn the Homestead and blame the protesters, she presents a woman who was willing to destroy her own community to prevent a greater harm.

Margaret's later life in Coeur du Lac shows a woman shaped by secrecy and paranoia. Josephine recalls her mother's fear of the window near the door, her habit of hiding things inside a clock, and her refusal to discuss the Homestead. These traits suggest a woman carrying the weight of a traumatic past, one who chose isolation as a form of protection. Her decision to quit her library job a month before her disappearance and to contact Thomas Abbott about Fiona indicates that she was actively investigating something before she vanished—likely the truth about Fiona's survival.

Chronological Arc: From Ringleader to Captive to Sacrifice

Margaret's arc spans from the late 1960s to 1994. The 1969 letter establishes her as the organizer who reached out to Bellanger. By 1970, she was pregnant with Josephine, and her December 1970 letter to Trish reveals her excitement about the pregnancy and her certainty that the baby would be a girl who would change the world. The 1973 Time interview shows her as the public face of the Homestead, the first woman to give birth there.

The pivotal moment in her arc comes with the 1977 fire. Patricia's account reveals that Margaret discovered Bellanger was seeking custody of the Girls and planned to burn the Homestead to prevent this. Margaret told Patricia to leave, but the fire occurred that same night, killing Fiona—or so everyone believed. Margaret testified at Ricky Peters's trial, and her testimony helped convict him, though Patricia later admits she lied to protect them both.

After the fire, Margaret cut off contact with the other Homesteaders and raised Josephine in isolation in Illinois. Her disappearance in 1994 is revealed to be a kidnapping—Bellanger, who survived the fire, had taken her to his desert compound. In the final chapters, Margaret is found bound and gagged in a chapel room. She tells Josephine that Bellanger plans to use the daughters for his experiments and wants Josephine as his next subject. In the climactic confrontation, Margaret takes a bullet meant for Josephine and dies, though Cate and Fiona together revive her. Her final act is one of complete self-sacrifice, protecting her daughter at the cost of her own life.

Relationships: The Mother-Daughter Bond and Its Fractures

The central relationship in Margaret's life is with Josephine. Their bond is characterized by distance and secrecy. Josephine describes their relationship as not close, noting that she had to learn about the Homestead from Bellanger's letters rather than from her mother. Yet Cate observes that Josephine's willingness to travel hundreds of miles to find her mother suggests a deeper connection than Josephine admits. Margaret's hidden scrapbook and her habit of leaving messages for Josephine—like the notebook inside the clock—indicate that she was communicating with her daughter in indirect ways, even when she could not speak directly.

Margaret's relationship with Bellanger is complex. She initiated contact with him, recruited the other women, and bore his first parthenogenetic child. Yet she also planned to burn down the Homestead to prevent him from gaining custody of the Girls. This suggests a woman who initially believed in Bellanger's vision but came to see him as a threat. Her final confrontation with him in the chapel, where she tells Josephine that Bellanger plans to use the daughters for his experiments, confirms her complete rejection of him.

Her relationships with the other Homestead mothers are marked by her role as ringleader and her later withdrawal. Deb Clarkson describes Margaret as someone who loved to pull strings and then play innocent, accusing her of tearing the group apart. Patricia Bishop's account is more sympathetic, revealing that Margaret planned the fire with her and then cut off contact afterward. These conflicting testimonies suggest a woman who was both a leader and a betrayer, someone who made difficult choices that alienated her from her community.

Key Decisions and Consequences

Margaret's first key decision is writing to Bellanger in 1969, which leads to the formation of the Homestead and the birth of the nine Girls. This decision brings her fame and a sense of purpose but also sets the stage for the tragedy to come. Her second key decision is planning the fire with Patricia to prevent Bellanger from gaining custody. This decision results in Fiona's apparent death—though it is later revealed that Fiona survived—and the destruction of the Homestead. Margaret's decision to testify against Ricky Peters, knowing he was innocent, is a moral compromise that she carries for the rest of her life.

Her decision to cut off contact with the other Homesteaders after the fire is another pivotal choice. This isolates her and Josephine but also protects them from the scrutiny and danger that followed the other families. Her final decision is to seek out Bellanger, which leads to her kidnapping. In the compound, her decision to take the bullet for Josephine is the culmination of her protective instincts, a final act that redeems her earlier failures in her daughter's eyes.

Theme and Symbol Connections

Margaret embodies several of the novel's central themes. Her role as the initiator of the Homestead connects to the theme of scientific legacy and the ownership of creation. She is the one who brought Bellanger into the experiment, yet she also tried to destroy his legacy by burning the Homestead. Her relationship with Josephine reflects the theme of mother-daughter estrangement and hidden maternal histories, as Josephine must piece together her mother's past from fragments and other people's testimony.

Margaret's decision to participate in parthenogenesis and her later fight to protect Josephine from Bellanger's custody connect to the theme of reproductive autonomy and bodily control. Her secrecy and paranoia reflect the theme of secrecy, surveillance, and the cost of public scrutiny, as she spends her life hiding from the attention that the Homestead brought. Finally, her expectations for Josephine—that she would change the world—connect to the theme of inherited power and the burden of exceptionalism.

The scrapbook Margaret kept is a powerful symbol of her dual nature. It is both a protective document, tracking the other Homesteaders for their safety, and a record of her own guilt, a reminder of the community she helped create and then destroyed. The clock where she hid her secrets symbolizes her habit of concealment, while the letter to Bellanger represents her role as the architect of the experiment.

Questions and Answers

1. What was Margaret Morrow's role in the formation of the Homestead?

Margaret was the initiator. According to Deb Clarkson, she recruited the women, wrote the letter to Bellanger, and persuaded Patricia Bishop to set aside land for the Homestead. The letter dated November 10, 1969, confirms that Margaret and the other mothers contacted Bellanger before the Homestead was formed.

2. Why did Margaret plan to burn down the Homestead?

Patricia Bishop reveals that Margaret discovered Bellanger was seeking legal custody of all the Girls. Margaret planned to burn the Homestead and make it look like the work of protesters to prevent Bellanger from gaining custody. Patricia claims Margaret told her to leave, but the fire occurred that same night.

3. Did Margaret kill Bellanger?

No. Margaret never killed Bellanger. In Chapter 49, she tells Josephine that she never killed Bellanger or burned the Homestead. Bellanger survived the fire and went into hiding with Fiona. Ricky Peters was convicted for the fire based on Margaret's testimony, but the testimony was false.

4. Why did Margaret disappear in 1994?

Margaret was kidnapped by Bellanger. She had been investigating Fiona's possible survival and had contacted retired medical examiner Leland Henley about it. Bellanger's men took her to his desert compound, where she was held captive until Josephine rescued her.

5. How did Margaret die?

Margaret died taking a bullet meant for Josephine. In the chapel confrontation, Bellanger shot at Josephine, and Margaret stepped in front of the bullet. Cate and Fiona together revived her, but the act of sacrifice was complete.