ISTP 5w4 Characters

Gabriel is a brilliant inventor who prides himself on building and creating things, from his three-dimensional clock pieces to amuse Sydney to his ultimate invention of a planting machine. He asks Alf to take it from field to field, seeing it as a good business venture for him to earn a living and do things faster for the farmers—and when Alf turns him down, Gabriel says it’s irrational for him to do so, and he cannot resist the future because it’s coming; he ought to move with it. But while he is smart with machines, he is less so with people—he crushes Dorcas briefly when telling her he cannot pursue her, in denial of his own true feelings but also out of a low Fe desire to do what is best for her (he thinks if he marries her, she will have to give up what she loves—the post office). His infatuation with his dead wife, and his devastation to find out she only married him for his money, shows a tendency toward immature feelings that lack nuance. Gabriel is very smart, but also reads things on a surface level a lot—he assumes Laura found his wife’s letter because she bought his books at the sale, and is surprised to find out Dorcas found it instead. It never crossed his mind that the woman married him for his money, rather than loved him, and he never guessed she was carrying on an emotional affair with another man. He focuses a great deal on his desire to work with his hands, to start another business, and to improve society with his new machine, but has no thought for how it may put the local field hands out of work since it does everything for the farmer that a dozen men might do for the money they need to survive. But he also shows low Ni desires for the future, a belief that his machine can change the world, and he thinks others should get on board and not resist change.

Enneagram: 5w4

Gabriel is from the withdrawn triad—he pulls away from people, he’s secretive, and keeps his business private, while also being intensely emotional and wrapped up in the past. He prides himself on his innovations and creativity, but also can be brooding and inclined to push himself away from happiness. Gabriel spends a lot of his single season on Lark Rise feeling torn between his attraction to Dorcas, and thinking himself unable to move on from his past. He loves her, and wants her, but also tells her he can never trust again, since his wife betrayed him. Prior to this, he was mourning her endlessly, because she died and left him despondent. During her illness, he threw all caution to the wind and took out a loan so that he could spend it on frivolities to please her, which might show his line to 7 kicking in (being irresponsible while feeling upset about her impending death). As a result, he lost his business and instead of moving on he feels resentful of the man who foreclosed on him and denies any responsibility in his defaulting on the loan. Fortunately for Dorcas, however, Gabriel comes around, realizes he cannot live entirely in the past and must not give himself reasons to stay frustrated and miserable about what he has lost, and pursues Dorcas, to both their happiness and relief.