Rudolphe Lermonant is a respected member of the community and the undertaker of this area. He is a broad and loud man at home, who carries a quiet respect any time he is outside of his house. He often lends a hand where it is needed throughout the tale and holds a compassion for the troubled people within it. Rudolphe is the voice of respectable reason covering quiet rage. Although there are many times when his color bothers him, the only moment where Rudolphe looses his grasp on his control occurs when a young white man follows his daughter home to his steps and publicly abuses her. He is sent to trial for the incident and wins the case which many in the community see as a victory. Rudolphe sees this as another example of the fact that he does not have the rights in order to protect his own child. He knows the things that he has had to endure in order to live amongst the whites, following their laws and the Creole ways in order to have his position. It disgusts him. Later, however, he works around these things in order to see his son happily married to Marie Ste. Marie, despite her ruined status.