Wouk revealed more bad than good about, of all people, the patriarch of the story. Victor, commonly known as Pug, was the father in the family that The Winds of War chronicles through World War II. Throughout the course of the story, Pug exhibited grave moral lapses. He committed adultery; he kissed Pamela Tudsbury and seriously considered divorcing his wife and marrying her. Pug had other faults as well. He was always disappointed in his son, Byron, even when he deserved his praise. Pug took unnecessary life-threatening risks, such as flying over Berlin in a British bomber plane and observing the front lines in Russia. He risked his own life, disregarding his family commitments, thinking only of himself and not of the people who needed him.
Pug, however, was not as bad as his wife, Rhoda. He came to his senses and decided to abandon his relationship with Pamela. Rhoda, on the other hand, was an egotistical, materialistic lightweight. She never thought of others� needs and throughout her life, she accomplished next to nothing. She committed adultery with Palmer Kirby on multiple occasions, each time increasing the sin�s gravity, beginning with flirting and leading up to intercourse. Rhoda had difficulty telling Pug she had betrayed him and wanted a divorce because she was greedily determining which man was more useful to her. She was temporarily dissuaded from divorce when the Henry family was invited to dinner at the White House. Unlike most of the other important characters in the book, she was interested in parties and socializing more than concepts and philosophy. She eventually did have the audacity to demand divorce from Pug. Rhoda raised her daughter, Madeline, to possess all her faults. Instead of attending college, Madeline had an affair with a married and successful radio broadcaster. With all these faults and few accomplishments, it is evident that more bad was revealed about Rhoda than good.
Another character about whom Wouk revealed more bad than good was the eminent author, Aaron Jastrow. Although, unlike Rhoda, Jastrow was quite accomplished, his distinguishing characteristic in The Winds of War was selfishness. Though he was an American citizen, he faced passport troubles after he had resided away from the States, in Italy, for many years. He was a smart man and he realized that he would have to fix the problems before he could return to America, but he liked his peaceful Italian villa and had no desire to leave it. Jastrow was aware that he had to resolve the erroneous technicalities in his passport in order to return to America but he procrastinated until it was too late in hopes of being able to remain to Italy. He then wrote a letter to his pregnant niece, Natalie, pressuring her to journey to Italy to manage his passport predicament. By coercing her to go to Italy, Jastrow callously endangered the lives of both Natalie and her unborn son. When she arrived, well into pregnancy, she had no choice but to give birth in a foreign hostile country. By the time Aaron�s passport was finally validated, it was too late to leave Italy even with a legitimate passport because no reliable means of transportation were available. Aaron Jastrow�s selfishness stranded Natalie, her son, Victor Henry Jr., and himself in the enemy country of Italy. The Winds of War looks through a dark window onto Aaron Jastrow to show that his selfishness far outweighed his good traits.
�Literature opens a dark window on the soul, revealing more about what is bad in people than what is good.� This is true for The Winds of War. Both Pug and Rhoda Henry committed adultery. Aaron Jastrow not only put his own life at risk, but also endangered two people he loved. Wouk showed more bad than good about these people throughout the book. Their actions were representative of the world climate during the time period of The Winds of War. The darkness in the souls of the characters in this novel was just a small example of the darkness in the soul of the world as it erupted into world war and holocaust.