# Big Hogey Parker — Short Fiction character guide

> Big Hogey Parker in Short Fiction by Walter M. Miller Jr..

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Hogey, Big Hogey, li'l Hogey, little Hogey

**First appearance:** 0000-conditionally-human

## Snapshot

A tumbler who can no longer stand under gravity, staggering toward his father-in-law's farm a week late with a gin bottle and a son he keeps mentioning.

## Who they are

Big Hogey Parker is dropped off on a barren stretch of Great Plains highway, drunk, legs failing him, duffle bag lost twice, insisting he's okay to a bus driver who has two daughters and a job he should quit. He used to be a tumbler; now he has to be a hoofer, on account of li'l Hogey, and Marie is going to be sore that he's a week late. Nobody knows he's coming — it's a surprise — and the sun is going down forge-red over dust that hangs in the air like yellow smoke.

## In the story

### [The Hoofer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_57_se/chapters/the-hoofer)

The protagonist, a spacer returning to Earth after nine months. He is drunk, conflicted about his new role as a father, and physically struggling with gravity.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_57_se/characters/hogey
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_57_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_57_se/characters