# The Young Man — Mary, Mary character guide

> The Young Man in Mary, Mary by James Stephens.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0004-iii

## Snapshot

A clerk with a cat's shamelessness and a bottomless appetite, whose easy questions draw Mary into her first serious romance.

## Who they are

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.

## Relationships

### [Mary Makebelieve](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/characters/mary_makebelieve)

_romantic_

Mary Makebelieve shares a tense, romantic connection with The Young Man, filled with longing and emotional conflict.

### [The Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/characters/the_man)

_rivalry_

The Man and The Young Man are rivals, competing for influence over Mary Makebelieve and clashing over their opposing agendas.

### [Mrs. Makebelieve](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/characters/mrs_makebelieve)

_social_

Mrs. Makebelieve and The Young Man have a polite but distant acquaintance, with her disapproving of his relationship with Mary.

### [Mr. Cafferty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/characters/mr_cafferty)

_social_

Mr. Cafferty and The Young Man have a casual acquaintance, often crossing paths in the community.

### [The Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/characters/the_man)

_rivalry_

The Man and The Young Man are rivals, competing for influence over Mary Makebelieve and clashing over their opposing agendas.

### [The Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/characters/the_man)

_rivalry_

The Man and The Young Man are rivals, competing for influence over Mary Makebelieve and clashing over their opposing agendas.

## In the story

### [Mary, Mary](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/chapters/mary-mary)

A policeman who becomes the object of Mary's and her mother's romantic aspirations, though his intentions are ambiguous.

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

Mrs. Cafferty's new lodger; thin, energetic, good-natured, and has a large appetite.

### [XXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/chapters/xxvii)

Mrs. Cafferty's lodger, a thin but strong young man who carries Mary's water bucket and exchanges glances with her.

### [XXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/chapters/xxviii)

Walks with Mary, gabbling ceaselessly; the policeman dismisses him as a skinny whippersnapper.

### [XXIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/chapters/xxix)

Mrs. Cafferty's lodger, a clerk with strong opinions on authority and Ireland, who becomes intimate with Mary and her mother.

### [XXXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/chapters/xxxi)

The young man returns with torn clothes and sticking-plaster after a fight with a much larger man. He recounts the fight with pride and is fed and extolled by the household.

### [XXXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/chapters/xxxii)

Walks with Mary; initially sad from being well-fed, but regains his spirits when hunger returns; his bruises are healing.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/characters/the_young_man
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/mary_mary_se/characters