Gowan Stevens

Gowan Stevens is the husband of Temple Drake Stevens, the father of Bucky and the murdered infant, and the second cousin (or nephew) of Gavin Stevens. At the time of the action of Requiem for a Nun, Gowan is a reformed alcoholic, sober for eight years. He is one of those "alumni of the best colleges, South or East, where they belonged to the right clubs; married now and raising families yet still alumni of their schools, performing acceptably jobs they themselves did not ask for, usually concerned with money: cotton futures, or stocks, or bonds" (54). Gowan's face, the stage directions tell us, "something has happened to it - tragedy - something . . . which it has accepted and is trying, really and sincerely and selflessly . . . to do its best with according to its code" (54). In Sanctuary (1931), as the youthful escort of Temple Drake, Gowan got drunk and wrecked an automobile with the result that Temple becomes a figure of shame in her community.