# Percy Bresnahan — Main Street character guide

> Percy Bresnahan in Main Street by Sinclair Lewis.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Bresnahan, Perce, the great Percy Bresnahan

**First appearance:** 0034-v

## Snapshot

Gopher Prairie's celebrated prodigal, a big-city automobile man who comes home to be admired and leaves behind a standard no local husband can meet.

## Who they are

Bresnahan returns from the outside world trailing money, machinery, and the town's reflected pride, and he enjoys both the admiration and the distance it buys him. He is polished, confident, and fundamentally uninterested in the place that produced him, which makes him irresistible to a woman hungry for largeness. His brief, dazzling presence sharpens Carol's sense of what Gopher Prairie lacks and quietly measures her against her husband.

## Relationships

### [Carol Kennicott](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/main_street_se/characters/carol_kennicott)

_social_

Percy is a wealthy, flashy automobile salesman from the city who briefly charms Carol with his worldliness, but his shallowness soon disappoints her.

### [Carol Kennicott](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/main_street_se/characters/carol_kennicott)

_social_

Percy is a wealthy, flashy automobile salesman from the city who briefly charms Carol with his worldliness, but his shallowness soon disappoints her.

### [Carol Kennicott](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/main_street_se/characters/carol_kennicott)

_social_

Percy is a wealthy, flashy automobile salesman from the city who briefly charms Carol with his worldliness, but his shallowness soon disappoints her.

## In the story

### [Chapter IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/main_street_se/chapters/iv)

A wealthy local who welcomes Carol and embodies the town's self-satisfied materialism.

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

The millionaire president of the Velvet Motor Car Company returns to Gopher Prairie as a 'dollar a year man' for the government, exuding confidence and charm, and paying special attention to Carol.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/main_street_se/chapters/iv)

Bresnahan is the center of attention, sharing inside information about the war, dismissing the Russian revolution, and later humiliating Miles Bjornstam in town.

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

Debates Carol, defending Gopher Prairie and traditional values, while showing romantic interest in her.

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

Mentioned as a successful man from Boston, but Carol criticizes his manners.

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

Bresnahan is seen at a table buying soft drinks for two girls; the captain describes him as a good-hearted but ignorant salesman.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/main_street_se/chapters/iv)

Mentioned as the townspeople's preferred source of opinions, in contrast to Carol's ignored experiences.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/main_street_se/characters/percy_bresnahan
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/main_street_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/main_street_se/characters