# Banjo — Character guide

> Key figures in Banjo by Claude McKay.

- [Banjo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/banjo.md): Banjo anchors a floating brotherhood of beach boys scraping meals off docked ships and coins off bistro floors, and his music briefly turns their hunger into something like art. Latnah keeps a pillow ready and a ten-fran
- [Latnah](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/latnah.md): Latnah entered the vagabond circle by speaking up for hungry men to a ship's mate, and she has been provisioning and protecting them ever since. She takes up collections after Banjo plays, keeps a pillow ready at her pla
- [Malty Avis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/malty_avis.md): Malty made it easy for the gang to accept Latnah, and his gentle warmth contrasts with Banjo's careless pride. On the breakwater he tells Banjo plainly that some men never know when they've got a good thing, and Banjo la
- [Goosey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/goosey.md): Goosey plays solo flute in Banjo's orchestra and blows the mouth of it clean between tunes, but illness has thinned him to a skeleton in a loose brown suit. He returns from the hospital careful and retired, lectured by t
- [Bugsy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/bugsy.md): Bugsy leads the boys dancing with a bird-hopping step that turns a bistro floor into something startlingly fresh, and he seizes the porridge-pan brawl to settle an old grudge against a boy from Benin. His wiry grace and 
- [Taloufa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/taloufa.md): Taloufa believes British intelligence framed Marcus Garvey, and he carries the movement's talk into Banjo's orchestra without ever quite committing to sail home. He loves sensuous, heady music and works easily alongside 
- [Ginger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/ginger.md): Ginger moves through the vagabond circle less by wit than by the useful accident of a pal on a well-provisioned ship, the kind of connection that draws a dozen hungry men to a deck for scraps. That easy access to food ma
- [Lonesome Blue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/lonesome_blue.md): Lonesome Blue carries a reputation the beach boys treat as fact: to meet him first in the morning is to invite trouble, and Banjo blames his own illness on the man's return. His arrival is the small, unwelcome event that
- [Dengel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/dengel.md): A character in the vagabond community, part of the group's interactions.
- [Crosby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/crosby.md): A younger character associated with the group.
- [Jake](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/jake.md): A character from Harlem, part of the vagabond circle.
- [Ray](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/ray.md): Ray moves among the vagabonds as a witness and participant, studying the Ditch's scheme of life — where bawdiness is merely a means toward respectability — while trying to preserve the rough, joyous picture of the beach 
- [Sarka](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/sarka.md): A character who hopes to go to America, part of the group.
- [Sister Geter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/sister_geter.md): A woman in the community, mentioned in the narrative.
- [Kid Irish](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/kid_irish.md): A character of Irish descent in the vagabond group.
- [Gal](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/gal.md): A generic term for a woman, possibly a specific character.
- [Pardner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/pardner.md): A term of address for a companion, possibly a specific character.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters