Character guide

Guest

major

Also known as Unknown, I, mine, myself

He arrives in a transformed London where no one quite knows what to make of him, and his foreignness becomes the engine of the book's inquiry. Ellen draws him out, sensing he can explain what her neighbors cannot, and he feels the sting of being useful only as a relic. His growing attachment to Ellen and his unease about where it leads give the middle chapters their quiet emotional pull.

Dick

major

Also known as Quoth Dick, poor Dick, I. Quoth Dick

Dick is the narrator's first friend in the new world, rowing him up the Thames and introducing him to kinsmen and neighbors with unguarded warmth. His reunion with Clara reveals a tender, flustered side beneath the cheerful competence, and his habit of deferring hard questions to older heads hints at the limits of his curiosity. He matters because his generosity makes the utopia feel lived-in rather than argued.

Ellen

major

Also known as Neighbour Ellen, neighbour Ellen, Ellen yonder

Ellen stands slightly apart from the easy contentment around her, pressing the narrator to make history clear because she fears what forgetting it might cost. Her beauty and earnestness unsettle him, and their conversations on the river carry an intimacy that neither quite names. She matters because she alone in the new society treats the past as something still dangerous and worth understanding.

Clara

supporting

Clara is affectionate and practical, the kind of woman who diagnoses a friend's romantic despair as mere hunger for love rather than tragedy. Her reunion with Dick is wordless and flushed, and her shy glances at Ellen suggest she senses a rival she cannot quite name. She matters because her level-headed warmth keeps the utopia's emotional register honest, and her presence complicates the narrator's growing fixation on Ellen.

Old Hammond

supporting

Also known as Hammond, kinsman Hammond the Elder

Hammond is the book's resident historian, a man whose love of talk has outgrown his audience of restless youngsters. He grumbles at the young and takes comfort in old novels, yet his memory holds the whole arc from capitalism to commonwealth. He matters because his long expository conversations give the narrator, and the reader, the historical scaffolding on which the utopia rests.

Richard Hammond

minor

Also known as Richard, Hammond

A relative of Old Hammond, mentioned as a figure from the past.

Friend Walter

minor

Also known as Walter

A friend of the narrator from the old world, briefly referenced.

Walter Allen

minor

Also known as quoth Walter

A character mentioned in the narrator's past discussions.

Annie

minor

A young woman encountered during the river journey, part of the festive community.

Bob

minor

Also known as friend Bob yonder

A friend of Dick's, part of the riverside community.

Robert the Weaver

minor

Also known as Robert

A weaver who speaks about the old days during the journey.

Greylocks

minor

Also known as old Greylocks

An elderly man encountered on the river, critical of the past.

Boffin

minor

Also known as this Mr. Boffin, Mr. Boffin

A character from the narrator's past life, mentioned briefly.

Mistress Philippa

minor

Also known as Philippa

A woman from the narrator's past, referenced in conversation.

Henry Morsom

minor

Also known as Morsom

A historical figure mentioned in Old Hammond's narrative.

Kate

minor

A woman from the narrator's past, briefly alluded to.