# Elmer Gantry — Character guide

> Key figures in Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis.

- [Elmer Gantry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/elmer_gantry.md): Elmer Gantry sells plows by day, sings hymns by night, and keeps a burlesque sermon in his back pocket for the boys in Denver. He is a magnificent hand-shaker and a shameless liar, driven less by belief than by the ache 
- [Frank Shallard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/frank_shallard.md): Frank is the rare minister who actually means it, and the rarer one who keeps asking whether the doctrines he preaches can survive scrutiny. Where Elmer performs faith, Frank interrogates it, and the contrast makes him b
- [Sharon Falconer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/sharon_falconer.md): Sharon runs her own tabernacle and her own show, mixing real spiritual force with the instincts of a seasoned impresario. She sees through Elmer's lies and keeps him anyway, because she wants the lie told well. Her blend
- [Jim Lefferts](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/jim_lefferts.md): Jim drinks with Elmer, soothes him, and needles him, the one friend who can call him a hellcat to his face and still be forgiven. He is the skeptical eye in a book full of believers, the man who notices the gap between E
- [Eddie Fislinger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/eddie_fislinger.md): Eddie wants to save souls and cannot stop himself from counting them, a small-town zealot whose sincerity curdles into self-righteousness. He clings to Elmer as a friend and example even as Elmer privately mocks everythi
- [Lulu Bains](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/lulu_bains.md): Lulu is young, watchful, and caught between the strictures of her father's church and the pull of a man who treats her as an experiment. What begins as a small-town flirtation becomes, for her, a matter of reputation and
- [Cleo Benham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/cleo_benham.md): Cleo is the sheltered small-town girl whose family money and church standing make her a prize Elmer can hardly believe he has won. When her parents are out at Eastern Star, her naked, unguarded need for him draws a passi
- [Bess Shallard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/bess_shallard.md): Bess belongs to the circle of earnest, unglamorous believers whose quiet faith throws Elmer's showmanship into relief. As Frank's partner she embodies the domestic tenderness and moral seriousness that Elmer can only mim
- [Philip McGarry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/philip_mcgarry.md): Dr. McGarry moves through the novel's clerical circles as a layman who says what he thinks and has no patience for pious humbug. His friendship with Frank Shallard gives that struggling minister a rare refuge of unpreten
- [T. J. Rigg](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/t_j_rigg.md): Rigg belongs to the class of prosperous laymen whose donations and connections keep a fashionable church running and whose approval can make or break a pastor's ambitions. His support is the kind that comes with expectat
- [Judson Roberts](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/judson_roberts.md): A rough, older man who becomes a convert at Elmer's revival.
- [Floyd Naylor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/floyd_naylor.md): A farmer and early follower of Elmer's ministry.
- [Dr. Howard Bancock Binch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/howard_bancock_binch.md): A pompous and self-important minister in Zenith.
- [Dr. Bruno Zechlin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/bruno_zechlin.md): A scholarly and liberal professor at the seminary.
- [Hettie Dowler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/hettie_dowler.md): A gossipy and malicious woman who spreads rumors about Elmer.
- [Juanita Klauzel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/juanita_klauzel.md): A woman with whom Elmer has an affair during his early career.
- [William Dollinger Styles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/william_dollinger_styles.md): A prominent deacon in Elmer's church in Zenith.
- [Cecil Aylston](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/cecil_aylston.md): An Episcopal minister and friend to Frank Shallard.
- [Harry Zenz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/harry_zenz.md): A slick and cynical traveling salesman friend of Elmer's.
- [Bishop Wesley R. Toomis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/bishop_wesley_r_toomis.md): A high-ranking bishop in the Methodist church.
- [Horace Carp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/horace_carp.md): A fellow student at the seminary, known for his affectations.
- [Mr. Pengilly](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/mr_pengilly.md): An old, kind minister who mentors Elmer early on.
- [Mrs. Evans Riddle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/mrs_evans_riddle.md): A wealthy parishioner in Elmer's first church.
- [Lily Anderson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/lily_anderson.md): A young woman Elmer courts before his marriage.
- [Mrs. Gantry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/mrs_gantry.md): Elmer's mother, a pious and domineering woman.
- [Mannie Silverhorn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/mannie_silverhorn.md): A slick, dishonest revival promoter who works with Elmer.
- [Adelbert Shoop](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/adelbert_shoop.md): A fellow student at the seminary.
- [Dr. Willoughby Quarles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/willoughby_quarles.md): The president of the small college Elmer attends.
- [Dr. Otto Hickenlooper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/otto_hickenlooper.md): A prominent minister in Zenith.
- [Art Nichols](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/art_nichols.md): A friend of Elmer's from his college days.
- [Dr. Mahlon Potts](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/mahlon_potts.md): A fellow minister and rival of Elmer's.
- [Wallace Umstead](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/wallace_umstead.md): A friend of Frank Shallard's.
- [Bill Kingdom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/bill_kingdom.md): A friend of Elmer's from his youth.
- [J. E. North](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/j_e_north.md): A businessman and parishioner in Zenith.
- [Deacon Bains](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/deacon_bains.md): Lulu Bains's father, a deacon in the church.
- [Dean Trosper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/dean_trosper.md): The dean of the seminary Elmer attends.
- [Oscar Hochlauf](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/oscar_hochlauf.md): A parishioner in Elmer's church.
- [Ad Locust](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/ad_locust.md): A friend of Elmer's from his early days.
- [Hank McVittle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/hank_mcvittle.md): A friend of Elmer's from his youth.
- [Don Pickens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/don_pickens.md): A friend of Elmer's from his college days.
- [Lem Staples](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/lem_staples.md): A local doctor in the town where Elmer first preaches.
- [Oscar Dowler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/oscar_dowler.md): Hettie Dowler's husband.
- [J. F. Whittlesey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/old_j_f_whittlesey.md): An old friend of the Gantry family.
- [Mrs. Toomis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/mrs_toomis.md): Bishop Toomis's wife.
- [Dr. Ingle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/dr_ingle.md): A prominent minister in the region.
- [Sister Coey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/sister_coey.md): A devout woman in Elmer's congregation.
- [Nathaniel Benham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/nathaniel_benham.md): Cleo Benham's father.
- [Dr. G. Prosper Edwards](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/g_prosper_edwards.md): A minister in Zenith.
- [Dr. Dodd](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/dr_dodd.md): A minister who debates Frank Shallard.
- [Miss Bundle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/miss_bundle.md): A spinster in Elmer's first parish.
- [Mr. Hudkins](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/mr_hudkins.md): A minister in a nearby town.
- [Father Matthew Smeesby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/father_matthew_smeesby.md): A Catholic priest who befriends Frank Shallard.
- [Deacon Eversley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/deacon_eversley.md): A deacon in Elmer's church.
- [Dr. Wilkie Bannister](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/dr_wilkie_bannister.md): A minister in Zenith.
- [Sister Bains](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/sister_bains.md): Lulu Bains's mother.
- [Miss Baldwin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/miss_baldwin.md): A woman in Elmer's congregation.
- [Widow Clark](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/widow_clark.md): A widow in Elmer's first parish.
- [Emmanuel Navitsky](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/emmanuel_navitsky.md): A Jewish friend of Frank Shallard's.
- [Barney Bains](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/elmer_gantry_se/characters/barney_bains.md): Lulu Bains's brother.

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