# Jo Dunfer — Can Such Things Be? character guide

> Jo Dunfer in Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Jo, Dunfer, little Jo, Joseph, Joey

**First appearance:** 0024-a-baby-tramp

## Snapshot

A small, sharp-tongued wagon driver called Gopher, whose long-hoarded grudge and buried grief surface in one devastating roadside confession.

## Who they are

Jo Dunfer—Gopher to those who know him—is a little man with a wagon, a bitten finger, and a tongue he keeps for reasons of his own. He narrates the ruin of Whisky and Ah Wee with a sardonic performer's relish, then turns on his listener with an accusation that reframes the whole story: nine years of madness, a woman he loved and followed from San Francisco, and a grave he has refused to visit. His grief and his venom are inseparable, and both drive the tale toward its reckoning.

## In the story

### [The Haunted Valley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/the-haunted-valley)

A central figure in the valley's haunting.

### [I: How Trees Are Felled in China](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/i-how-trees-are-felled-in-china)

Whisky Jo, a local rancher and saloon keeper, who narrates his hatred for Chinese immigrants and his murder of Ah Wee.

### [II: Who Drives Sane Oxen Should Himself Be Sane](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/ii-who-drives-sane-oxen-should-himself-be-sane)

Referred to as 'Whisky' or 'W'isky'; the narrator's former acquaintance who killed Ah Wee and is now buried beside him.

### [A Baby Tramp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/a-baby-tramp)

The orphaned child, referred to as 'Joey' and 'little Jo,' who wanders as a tramp and eventually dies on his mother's grave.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/characters/jo_dunfer
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/can_such_things_be_se/characters