# Bayliss Wheeler — One of Ours character guide

> Bayliss Wheeler in One of Ours by Willa Cather.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Bayliss

**First appearance:** 0004-i

## Snapshot

Claude's prosperous older brother, a businessman who lectures his mother about coffee and treats his Cadillac as too precious for country roads.

## Who they are

Bayliss is the Wheeler family's model of success: shrewd, thrifty, and certain that the Erlichs will end up without a roof over their heads. He measures people by their habits and their interest payments, and his gentle, grieved corrections—two cups of coffee, a mortgage, a draft from an open window—make him the small tyrant of the family table. He matters because Claude's future is constantly defined against him: what Bayliss calls wisdom, Claude suspects is just a locked door.

## Relationships

### [Claude Wheeler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/claude_wheeler)

_rivalry_

Bayliss, Claude's older brother, is a narrow-minded, materialistic businessman who constantly criticizes and belittles Claude.

### [Gladys Farmer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/gladys_farmer)

_romantic_

Bayliss courts Gladys with a dull, possessive persistence, but she finds him stifling and unappealing.

### [Claude Wheeler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/claude_wheeler)

_rivalry_

Bayliss, Claude's older brother, is a narrow-minded, materialistic businessman who constantly criticizes and belittles Claude.

### [Claude Wheeler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/claude_wheeler)

_rivalry_

Bayliss, Claude's older brother, is a narrow-minded, materialistic businessman who constantly criticizes and belittles Claude.

### [Gladys Farmer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/gladys_farmer)

_romantic_

Bayliss courts Gladys with a dull, possessive persistence, but she finds him stifling and unappealing.

### [Gladys Farmer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/gladys_farmer)

_romantic_

Bayliss courts Gladys with a dull, possessive persistence, but she finds him stifling and unappealing.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/i)

Claude's older brother, a thin, dyspeptic Prohibitionist who runs a farm implement business in Frankfort.

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

Claude's brother, who makes insinuating remarks about Ernest and has a black eye.

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

Claude's older brother, who dismisses the idea of transferring to the State University, citing football and cost.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/xiv)

Criticizes Claude's decision to plant wheat on the corn field, questioning his methods.

### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/xvi)

Bayliss visits for Christmas dinner, feels jealous of Claude, criticizes the Erlichs' business, and proposes a trip to a musical show to court Gladys.

### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/xix)

Found visiting Gladys and Mrs. Farmer; joins the sleigh ride reluctantly; takes a gruff tone with Gladys and is the object of Claude's jealousy.

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

Mentioned by Gladys as a symbol of oppressive success.

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

Claude briefly wonders if even Bayliss has an imprisoned spirit, but finds the thought unsettling.

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

Visits occasionally, enjoys Enid's vegetarian suppers, and works with her in the Prohibition campaign.

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

A pacifist who argues the U.S. should stay out of the war to gain economic advantage, causing family tension.

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

Mentioned as the brother Claude fears Gladys might marry.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/xiv)

Mentioned by Claude as the type of man who would control a world he finds ugly.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/bayliss_wheeler
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters