You May Travel In Four Directions

     Lee is the guider throughout the whole novel. He gives guidance and advice to the Trasks and helps lead them down the road of righteousness. He realizes that there is a difference between good and bad people and can easily point them out. He presents the major theme of timshel. He shows that a person can be a little bit of both, and have a balance. He cares for the Trask twins and takes them as their own and cleans the house. He also helps Adam to get back onto his feet and to recover from the loss of Cathy. Lee is a stabilizing force in the household. He is the one consistent person who does not seem to change and stays true to himself. Lee is a selfless character who even puts his dreams on hold to open a bookstore and then cancels them to help mentor the Trasks, especially the twins. He is the connector between good and evil and sees that they can live together. Lee is a philosopher and has acknowledged that there is both in everyone. He knows that there are extremes and sees them in Cathy, as evil, and Aron, as good.  The Trask family are most important to Lee. He offers Cal a way to redeem himself and believe that he can be good and shows him that he has a choice. “Don’t you see? . . . the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’—that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open.”(pg. 303). By Lee saying this he shows to everyone that they all have their own individual choices. They can be the extremes of good and evil or be in the middle and lean towards one a little more than the other. He saves Cal from condemning himself to a life full of sin. He also allows Adam to see his mistakes he has made as a parent and given him a chance to correct them.