Character guide

Mary Makebelieve

major

Also known as Mary, Makebelieve, Mary Eileen Makebelieve

Mary Makebelieve drifts through Dublin's streets and tenements, hungry for romance and half-convinced that any passing stranger might be the husband fate has waiting. When a young man's questions turn to her mother's business, she lies and calls her a dressmaker, a small betrayal that gnaws at her even as it protects the courtship she longs for. Her divided loyalty between the world she wants and the mother she loves is the quiet engine of the book's early arc.

Mrs. Makebelieve

supporting

Also known as Personally Mrs. Makebelieve

Mrs. Makebelieve scrubs Dublin's floors for a living and pours her unspent romance into her daughter, feeding the girl's dreams even as her own body begins to refuse the work. When Mary asks whether a man ever struck her, she answers with a storm of weeping she never explains, a silence that hangs over the household. Her creeping languor and the shame Mary feels about her trade together press on the story's middle, making the mother's decline the cost of the daughter's ascent.

Mrs. Cafferty

supporting

Mrs. Cafferty is a decent woman whose generosity is hemmed in by six mouths and an unemployed husband, so her lodger never quite gets enough to eat. Mrs. Makebelieve, divining the lean pot next door, contrives to feed the young man herself, and the arrangement draws Mary into his company. Mrs. Cafferty's cramped household is the practical hinge that brings the young man and Mary together, and her friendship with the Makebelieves keeps the two families knotted through the middle of the book.

The Young Man

supporting

The young man lodges with Mrs. Cafferty, works in a retail establishment, and talks with fluent, boyish certainty about his chief, his friends, and his enemies. He questions Mary about her family and her religion, and when he asks what her mother does, she lies rather than name the charwoman's trade. His hunger, both for food and for company, makes him a fixture at the Makebelieve table and a companion on Mary's evening walks, and his easy generosity of speech gives her the first taste of being courted.

The Man

minor

An enigmatic figure who interacts with Mary and others.

Patrick

minor

Also known as Patrick John

A male acquaintance or relative of the Makebelieve family.

Mrs. O'Connor

minor

A local woman who appears in the community scenes.

Mr. Cafferty

minor

Husband of Mrs. Cafferty, a minor character in the neighborhood.

Norah

minor

Also known as Nora

A friend or servant mentioned in passing.

Patrick Joseph Brady

minor

Also known as Brady

A named individual with brief mention in the narrative.