# Rudolph Miller — Short Fiction character guide

> Rudolph Miller in Short Fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Rudolph

**First appearance:** 0005-head-and-shoulders

## Snapshot

A boy who invents a grander self to survive his father's rage, then carries that invention into a lonely adulthood.

## Who they are

Rudolph Miller lives under the shadow of Carl Miller, a failed man whose fury erupts when his son spills a glass of water on the morning of his first communion. The beating that follows, and Rudolph's hysterical laughter through it, marks the moment he learns to split himself in two. Years later, registering at a Tennessee hotel as George O'Kelly of Cuzco, Peru, he is still chasing a girl named Jonquil with the same desperate invention, and the story asks whether the fantasy was escape or the only self he ever really had.

## Relationships

### [Father Schwartz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/father_schwartz)

_psychological_

Father Schwartz is a priest who becomes psychologically obsessed with the young Rudolph, projecting his own spiritual crisis onto the boy.

### [Father Schwartz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/father_schwartz)

_psychological_

Father Schwartz is a priest who becomes psychologically obsessed with the young Rudolph, projecting his own spiritual crisis onto the boy.

### [Father Schwartz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/father_schwartz)

_psychological_

Father Schwartz is a priest who becomes psychologically obsessed with the young Rudolph, projecting his own spiritual crisis onto the boy.

## In the story

### [Absolution](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/absolution)

A young boy grappling with his faith and his father's expectations, preparing for confession.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/i)

An intense little boy of eleven, son of a parishioner, who comes to Father Schwartz in a state of abject fear to confess a terrible sin.

### [II: “On Saturday, Three Days Ago.”](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/ii-on-saturday-three-days-ago)

The penitent struggling with confession and his invented alter ego Blatchford Sarnemington.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/iii)

Caught drinking water before communion, he lies to his father and is beaten for his defiance.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/iv)

Rudolph experiences a crisis of conscience, confessing only a minor sin while feeling a deep sense of isolation and guilt as he receives communion in mortal sin.

### [V: “Sagitta Volante in Dei”](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/v-sagitta-volante-in-dei)

A beautiful little boy confessing his sin to Father Schwartz; he becomes frightened by the priest's strange talk and eventually runs away in panic.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/rudolph_miller
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters