MBTI Type: ISFJ
Roger is a naturalist with a love for all things scientific, and he becomes a very learned expert in his chosen field. Because of this, he’s sent on an expedition to Africa to conduct further studies—chosen out of many people who could have done the job. He tries to interest Molly in such things as well, with success (but Cynthia finds it all rather ‘boring’). Since this is his primary interest, he doesn’t have much to talk about otherwise and is disappointed when he finds Molly reading Byron rather than about bees. He’s a gentle and kind man, deeply emotional and makes decisions through his feelings, including falling for Cynthia immediately and proposing to her, even as he plans to be away for two years. Roger’s reasonable enough to know that it’s a long separation for a pretty woman to endure, and so he allows her to break off the engagement if she chooses. He has not known her long before he is talking to his brother about his feelings for her, and comparing her eyes to stars and wondering what color best describes them. Roger is often a peacemaker between others, and very receptive to the emotional environment—quick to comfort Molly but also see her father’s side and gently bring it to the surface of their conversation; bursting in to see Cynthia and tell her his good news, but sensing hostility from her mother and immediately retreating so as not to be rude; trying to help his father and brother reconcile after his mother’s death, etc. But he also has a lot of detached scientific interests, studies, and hobbies, as he gathers information and takes notes and draws conclusions. His Ne is rather poor, though, in that Cynthia completely besotted him and made him oblivious to her true character, which his brother spots immediately.
Enneagram: 9w1
Roger’s 9-ness can best be summed up in his refusal to take up any room in terms of his engagement; he asks Cynthia to marry him and she accepts, but then he not only goes along with her desire to keep it quiet for two years with no explanation, he insists that ‘I am bound, you are free,’ meaning he won’t hold her to anything if she breaks it off and marries someone else. Talk about refusing to assert yourself! Elsewhere, he is a calm presence in everyone’s life, easily getting along with his mother and calming Molly down when she gets upset by trying to point out to her that her father has needs as well (‘it must be hard for a man to go without companionship’). Osborne sends him home to tell their father about him failing his exams, because he knows Roger can better handle the old man. Roger indeed deflates him a few times, by simply ignoring his emotional outbursts and/or speaking up on his defense (telling Preston he ‘should’ have more deference for a man his father’s age, his super-ego 1 wing rising to call attention to Preston’s ‘bad behavior’). Roger elsewhere ‘smokes a peace pipe’ with his father and agrees to let Osborne have half of his income to support his secret family. But he is also naïve and falls in love too easily with a woman just because she is beautiful, then does not get overly upset when she marries someone else. It takes him a long time to recognize his deeper feelings for Molly.
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