Character guide

Joe Gilligan

major

Also known as Gilligan, Private Gilligan, Joseph

A weary enlisted man who shepherds a blinded officer home from France, only to find his own reward is a friendship he can't quite name.

Cecily Saunders

major

Also known as Miss Saunders, Cecily, Miss Cecily Saunders

A young Southern belle waiting to marry a soldier she barely knows, whose pretty certainties crack under the weight of what the war has sent back to her.

George Farr

major

Also known as XV George Farr, Mr. George Farr

A restless young man hovering at the edges of Cecily's engagement, caught between wanting her and knowing he has no place in the story she's already chosen.

Margaret Powers

major

Also known as Mrs. Powers, Margaret, Margaret Mahon-Powers

A war widow who attaches herself to a dying soldier's homecoming, moving through other people's griefs with a calm that costs her more than she shows.

Emmy

supporting

Also known as Miss Emmy, II Emmy

A servant girl with a fierce, unshowy independence who mothers the wounded lieutenant and refuses to be anyone's prey.

Donald Mahon

major

Also known as Mahon, young Mahon, poor young Mahon

A young aviator brought home blind and drifting, his ruined face and wandering mind the still center around which everyone else's hopes and vanities turn.

Januarius Jones

supporting

Also known as Jones, Mr. Jones, X Januarius Jones

Jones drifts through the Saunders household as a guest nobody quite invited, fixing his fathomless yellow stare on Cecily until she feels her blood go cold, then asking when she is to be married. He admits that frightening people is sometimes the only way to get what he wants from them, and Cecily names the practice plainly: blackmail. His obsession with Emmy later curdles into something closer to mathematics than desire, making him the novel's most patient and most predatory observer of other people's hungers.

Mr. Saunders

supporting

Also known as V Mr. Saunders

Mr. Saunders belongs to the older generation that retreats to the veranda when the war talk grows too large, leaving the young to their uneasy rooms. His presence lingers in the house even when he is offstage — in the scent of his cigar, in the framed grandfather watching Cecily from above the fireplace as she fends off Jones. He embodies the respectable Southern order against which his daughter's stalled engagement and the returning soldiers' damage are quietly measured.

Young Robert Saunders

minor

Also known as Robert, young Robert Saunders, Robert Saunders

A younger member of the Saunders family.

Mrs. Saunders

minor

Cecily's mother, a matriarchal presence.

Uncle Joe

minor

Also known as dear Uncle Joe

An older relative offering guidance and humor.

Dick

minor

Also known as Dear dead Dick, ugly Dick

A deceased soldier remembered by others.

Madden

minor

Also known as Mr. Madden, Sergeant Madden

A sergeant with a no-nonsense attitude.

Captain Green

minor

Also known as Green, that Green

A military officer with a brief role.

Tobe

minor

A servant or local figure in the community.

Mrs. Mahon

supporting

Also known as the new Mrs. Mahon, Mahon

Walking the rose avenue beneath the oaks, Mrs. Mahon tells Gilligan she never knew anyone she liked half this much, and teases him that he is too nice to escape marriage forever. She is the household's quiet center of grief and hospitality, tending the wounded son who has come home and absorbing the strange new people the war has deposited around him. When Emmy reports Jones's skulking, it is Mrs. Mahon who offers to tell Joe — a small gesture that shows how she keeps the fragile peace of the rectory.

Mr. Rivers

minor

A minor character with limited appearances.

Mrs. Burney

minor

Also known as IV Mrs. Burney

A local woman in the social circle.

Doctor Gary

minor

Also known as VII Doctor Gary, Dr. Gary

A physician attending to characters.

Dr. Mahon

minor

Also known as Mahon, Even Mahon

A doctor and possibly relative of Donald.

Mrs. Worthington

minor

A minor social figure.

Julian Lowe

supporting

Also known as Lowe, Cadet Lowe, Cadet

Kneeling beside Margaret's chair with his arms around her legs, Cadet Lowe confesses that he would take Donald's scar and all, and imagines a tomb with himself in boots and pilot's wings. He is jealous of a dying man's wound, desperate to be older, richer, and taken seriously by a woman who is twenty-four and gently humors him. His raw, unearned longing for a heroic death sets the novel's measure of what the war actually did to the men who came back — and to the boys who didn't go.

Henry

minor

Also known as Hank White, Hank, poor Hank

A soldier or local with a troubled past.

Callie Nelson

minor

Also known as Nelson, Aunt Callie Nelson, Aunt Callie

An aunt figure in the community.

Sherman

minor

A historical name dropped in context.

Sis

minor

A young girl or sister figure in the narrative.

Dewey

minor

A character mentioned in passing.

Margaret

minor

Also known as Margaret Dearest

A woman addressed affectionately, possibly Margaret Powers.

Schluss

minor

A character with a brief appearance.

Loot

minor

Also known as the Loot

A slang term for a lieutenant, used as a name.

Mr. Dough

minor

Also known as Dough

A minor character with a suggestive name.

Rufus

minor

Also known as Rufe

A local man with a small role.

James Dough

minor

Possibly related to Mr. Dough.

Lee

minor

Also known as Mr. Lee

A character mentioned briefly.

Bob

minor

Also known as Bobby

A minor character, possibly a child.

Loosh

minor

A servant or laborer.

Alice

minor

A woman mentioned in dialogue.

Claude

minor

A briefly mentioned character.

Smith

minor

Also known as Mr. Smith

A generic name used for a minor role.

Achilles

minor

A classical allusion used as a nickname.

Ace

minor

A pilot or skilled individual.

Doctor Baird

minor

Also known as Doctor

A physician with a minor role.

Minnie

minor

Also known as Miss Minnie, May

A woman mentioned in social contexts.

Oswald

minor

A briefly named character.

Mr. Mahon

minor

Also known as Young Mr. Mahon

A male member of the Mahon family.

Aelia

minor

A classical reference used as a name.

Mr. Burney

minor

Husband of Mrs. Burney.

Mrs. Wardle

minor

A minor social figure.