# Isaiah Bye — There Is Confusion character guide

> Isaiah Bye in There Is Confusion by Jessie Redmon Fauset.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Isaiah, old Isaiah, old Isaiah Bye, young white Bye

**First appearance:** 0003-i

## Snapshot

Isaiah Bye, born free and fiercely proud, taught school by day and freedmen by night until he owned houses, a store, and his family's future.

## Who they are

Isaiah is the Bye family's founding striver, a man whose mother's warning that he could not go as far as he dreamed only sharpened his resolve. He names his son Meriwether after the white Bye heir, wagers everything on the boy becoming a doctor, and builds property and reputation out of a teacher's meager pay. His pride and his blindness to Meriwether's true gifts plant the ambitions and disappointments that ripple through the next generation.

## Relationships

### [Meriwether Bye](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/meriwether_bye)

_family_

Isaiah is Meriwether's brother, and their relationship is marked by rivalry and differing values.

### [Meriwether Bye](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/meriwether_bye)

_family_

Isaiah is Meriwether's brother, and their relationship is marked by rivalry and differing values.

### [Meriwether Bye](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/meriwether_bye)

_family_

Isaiah is Meriwether's brother, and their relationship is marked by rivalry and differing values.

## In the story

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/iii)

Develops a sturdy independence and unyielding pride after a childhood conversation with Meriwether Bye; opens a school for colored youth on Vine Street.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/iv)

Isaiah Bye is a proud, hardworking man who marries late, has one son Meriwether, and accumulates property through teaching and side work. He names his son after the white Bye patron and dreams of him becoming a doctor.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/v)

Isaiah Bye is Meriwether's father, who gave Meriwether the medical books and inscribed the Bye Family Bible with a proud, tragic message.

### [XXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxii)

Peter's grandfather, a 'child of freedom' born in 1830, whose proud legacy Peter reflects on while reading the family Bible.

### [XXIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxix)

Mentioned as the black Bye who played with Meriwether's grandfather in Philadelphia.

### [XXXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxxvi)

Referenced as Peter's grandfather, the son of Aaron Bye and Judy Bye; his life and legacy are central to Meriwether Bye's revelation.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/isaiah_bye
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters