# Tim Rafferty — King Coal character guide

> Tim Rafferty in King Coal by Upton Sinclair.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Tim, young Tim, Rafferty

**First appearance:** 0004-i

## Snapshot

A young miner whose family's quiet decency and old wounds reveal the human cost of company rule.

## Who they are

Tim Rafferty belongs to a household where the father, Old Rafferty, once gave up a tipple-boss job rather than cheat his fellow miners. Tim's youth and friendship with Hal place him among the next generation caught between inherited fear and new hope. His family's dinner table becomes a stage where the camp's silence is first broken by Red Mary's challenge.

## Relationships

### [Hal Warner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/characters/hal_warner)

_rivalry_

Tim Rafferty is a company loyalist and scab who undermines the miners' union efforts, creating conflict with Hal.

### [Hal Warner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/characters/hal_warner)

_rivalry_

Tim Rafferty is a company loyalist and scab who undermines the miners' union efforts, creating conflict with Hal.

### [Hal Warner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/characters/hal_warner)

_rivalry_

Tim Rafferty is a company loyalist and scab who undermines the miners' union efforts, creating conflict with Hal.

## In the story

### [King Coal](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/king-coal)

Member of the Rafferty family who Hal meets early in his journey.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/ix)

Explains to Hal that the law requires sprinkling with adobe-dust but it is rarely enforced.

### [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/x)

Mentioned as one of the individuals etching into Hal's picture, moving him to sympathy and fellowship.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/xi)

Hal's mule-driver friend who invites him to meet his family.

### [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/xvii)

Blue-eyed Tim goes down to look for his father.

### [XXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/xxiii)

Rafferty is one of the miners found alive in Room Seventeen, though his condition is unknown.

### [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/ii)

Tim, usually lighthearted, is enraged and leads the outcry about his father being cheated of damages after an accident.

### [Chapter III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/iii)

Tim is raised on the shoulders of the crowd and made to tell his story of the disaster.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/v)

Tim tries to force his way into the hospital to see his father, leading to a confrontation with Cartwright.

### [Chapter VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/vi)

Mentioned as an obvious choice for the committee, but Hal keeps him under his eye.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/vii)

Appointed to the temporary committee to keep lists and funds.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/viii)

Made treasurer and secretary of the union, and selected for the committee.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/xii)

Hal mentions Tim Rafferty and his family as an example of the injustice done by Peter Harrigan.

### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/xiii)

Tim is also taken as part of the strike committee.

### [Chapter XX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/xx)

Angry young miner who confronts Moylan and Hal, expressing bitterness over the union's failure to support the strikers.

### [XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/xxi)

Initially quarrels with Moylan, then supports Hal's plan and apologizes for earlier harsh words.

### [XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/chapters/xxvi)

Tim is offered a job in Pedro to meet fired workers and give them union literature, as his family faces destitution.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/characters/tim_rafferty
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_coal_se/characters