The first and longest part of The Song of the Lark (by Willa Cather) takes a long, winding path to detailing the past of Thea Kronborg, the main protagonist of the novel. Rather than Thea herself, as interesting as she is, the focus of this part is more directed at the people who interacted with Thea the most and whose lives were impacted by her considerably.
Dr. Archie is one of these people. As soon as you begin reading, it's almost blatantly obvious that he will play an important role, seeing as he is the very first character to be introduced "Doctor Howard Archie had just come up from a game of pool with the Jewish clothier and two travelling men..." (3) Cather continues for another page, describing a portion of his background. As the novel continues, it's revealed that Dr. Archie is indeed an important part of Thea's life, being one of her closer friends, if you can call him that. Two other characters that are similar to Dr. Archie in this respect are Professor Wunsch, also known as Herr Wunsch, and Ray Kennedy. Dr. Archie seems to act as the fatherly figure for Thea, as her father is very stiff and upright,
Professor Wunsch, who teaches piano lessons to Thea, is not as close to her as Dr. Archie, but he recognizes something more in her than any of his other pupils. He teaches her all he knows, and is fully aware that she can only learn more if she travels elsewhere. To express this notion, Professor Wunsch leaves Moonstone, hoping that this will help Thea understand that he can do no more for her.
Ray Kennedy is definitely very close to Thea, as he has... certain ideas pertaining to her. "Thea's twelfth birthday had passed a few weeks before her memorable call upon Mrs. Tellamantez. There was a worthy man in Moonstone who was already planning to marry Thea as soon as she should be old enough. His name was Ray Kennedy, his age was thirty, and he was a conductor on a freight train..." (40) Now, I just want you to think about that for a second. If you haven't questioned the morals of Ray Kennedy, you should seriously consider questioning yours. A thirty year-old man planning to marry a twelve year-old girl; once she's finally old enough, of course. That is definitely not normal, even for the time period this book was written in.
Of course, Thea Kronborg does seem to be the kind of child that seems to be far too clear-minded and mature compared to her schoolmates, so it should be no surprise that she would befriend people like Dr. Archie and Ray Kennedy. All the same, it seems rather odd that a young child seems only able to befriend full grown men.
