# Lonesome Blue — Banjo character guide

> Lonesome Blue in Banjo by Claude McKay.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Poor Lonesome Blue, ole Lonesome Blue, Lonesome

**First appearance:** 0023-xix-lonesome-blue-again

## Snapshot

A walking omen of bad luck whose reappearance in Marseille unsettles the beach boys and quietly wrecks Ray's plans to leave clean.

## Who they are

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 begins to unravel Ray's carefully preserved picture of the Ditch, forcing him to stay and share the boys' troubles rather than depart with a tidy memory. He matters less as a personality than as the story's reminder that superstition and circumstance govern these lives more than intention.

## Relationships

### [Ray](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/ray)

_friendship_

Lonesome Blue and Ray share a quiet, steady companionship, often watching each other's backs.

### [Banjo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/banjo)

_friendship_

Banjo and Lonesome Blue have a quiet, understanding friendship, with a shared sense of solitude.

### [Ray](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/ray)

_friendship_

Lonesome Blue and Ray share a quiet, steady companionship, often watching each other's backs.

### [Banjo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/banjo)

_friendship_

Banjo and Lonesome Blue have a quiet, understanding friendship, with a shared sense of solitude.

### [Ray](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/ray)

_friendship_

Lonesome Blue and Ray share a quiet, steady companionship, often watching each other's backs.

## In the story

### [XIV: Telling Jokes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/chapters/xiv-telling-jokes)

A Southern black man expelled from France, repeatedly jailed for disobeying expulsion orders, and in a state of physical and spiritual decay.

### [XV: White Terror](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/chapters/xv-white-terror)

Lonesome Blue is not mentioned in this chapter's excerpts.

### [XIX: Lonesome Blue Again](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/chapters/xix-lonesome-blue-again)

Found in a deteriorated state, having been imprisoned again for violating expulsion laws. He is helpless, ill, and rejected by consular officials. He spends his money on drink with other outcasts.

### [XX: The Rock of Refuge](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/chapters/xx-the-rock-of-refuge)

His unwelcome reappearance in the Ditch is noted as the beginning of events that altered Ray's impression of the place.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters/lonesome_blue
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/banjo_se/characters