# David — Short Fiction character guide

> David in Short Fiction by Voltairine de Cleyre.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Davy

**First appearance:** 0000-a-rocket-of-iron

## Snapshot

Young, beautiful, and worshipful, David kneels to kiss the feet of a woman who warns him he will one day wish that kiss reserved for another.

## Who they are

David is the youth whose face and soul the older woman confesses she loves, and whose passion she receives with a mixture of gladness and dry foreknowledge. He bends to kiss her feet and is checked — too much like self-abasement, she says — and then told that the time will come when he wishes he had saved that kiss for someone to whom it would all be new. His white, quivering face and buried hands register the wound of being loved for his beauty by a woman who cannot believe she is loved at all.

## Relationships

### [Effie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/characters/effie)

_romantic_

David and Effie share a deeply intimate and possibly obsessive romantic bond, with the highest interaction count suggesting a central, consuming relationship.

### [Bernard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/characters/bernard)

_rivalry_

David and Bernard's single interaction underscores a tense, competitive dynamic, likely over Effie.

### [Nathaniel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/characters/nathaniel)

_friendship_

David and Nathaniel have a minimal but cordial connection, suggesting a casual friendship or acquaintance.

### [Bernard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/characters/bernard)

_rivalry_

Bernard and David have limited but pointed interactions, hinting at a rivalry possibly over Effie or status.

## In the story

### [The Triumph of Youth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/the-triumph-of-youth)

Mentioned as 'Davy,' a bright young figure admired by the woman.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/characters/david
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/characters