# Jonas McGillicuddy — Short Fiction character guide

> Jonas McGillicuddy in Short Fiction by Clark Ashton Smith.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Jonas

**First appearance:** 0000-the-malay-krise

## Snapshot

A discouraged wanderer with empty pockets and a whining inner voice, trudging home after three years to a wife he abandoned and children who may not remember him.

## Who they are

Jonas McGillicuddy is a failed vineyard-keeper and drifting laborer, thin, stoop-shouldered, and so tramp-like in appearance that the countryside is suspicious of him. He left his wife Matilda and three children abruptly after a bitter quarrel, and now returns unannounced, not from love but because every other attempt at a livelihood has failed him. His unstable, self-consoling temperament—dreaming of pear pies while ignoring the likely consequences of his absence—makes his homecoming a slow-burning collision between fantasy and the reality of what he abandoned.

## Relationships

### [Matilda](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/characters/matilda)

_family_

Jonas McGillicuddy is Matilda's overprotective father, constantly worried about her suitors.

### [Matilda](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/characters/matilda)

_family_

Jonas McGillicuddy is Matilda's overprotective father, constantly worried about her suitors.

### [Matilda](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/characters/matilda)

_family_

Jonas McGillicuddy is Matilda's overprotective father, constantly worried about her suitors.

## In the story

### [The Phantoms of the Fire](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/the-phantoms-of-the-fire)

Protagonist returning home after three years; witnesses the phantom of his family before the fire.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/characters/jonas_mcgillicuddy
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/characters