# Samuel Meredith — Short Fiction character guide

> Samuel Meredith in Short Fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Sammy, Samuel, young Samuel

**First appearance:** 0213-the-freshest-boy

## Snapshot

A young man of wealth and good name, Samuel Meredith uses silence and his own true emotion as weapons to bully a guilty woman into despair.

## Who they are

Samuel Meredith moves through a world of luncheons, chaise-longues, and family names that carry weight, and he treats the reputations of his relatives as his own property to defend. He corners Edna over a scandal, refuses to accept her explanations, and lets her talk herself into confession by being impervious and returning always to his own feeling. His cold, patient pressure on Edna and Cary Sloane — and his willingness to threaten Sloane's allowance — makes him the story's quiet enforcer of a family's code.

## In the story

### [The Four Fists](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/the-four-fists)

Protagonist who undergoes moral transformation through four physical confrontations.

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

The protagonist, a boy with a 'hitable' face who struggles with social acceptance at Andover after a pampered European upbringing.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/ii)

The protagonist of the chapter, a college student who prides himself on good form and social status, but undergoes a transformative realization after a streetcar altercation.

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

Samuel graduates from university, starts working on Wall Street, and becomes infatuated with a married woman named Marjorie, leading to a confrontation with her husband.

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

Now in his early thirties, Samuel is tested by a business deal in the Southwest, where he reverses a land squeeze after being punched by rancher McIntyre, leading to his promotion to Carhart's partner.

## Links

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