# John Elmer Pettibone Cajee — The Devil’s Dictionary character guide

> John Elmer Pettibone Cajee in The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0001-the-devil-s-dictionary

## Snapshot

A named figure threaded through the Dictionary's entries, one of the many invented citizens whose ordinary-sounding name lends the satire its deadpan air of civic record.

## Who they are

John Elmer Pettibone Cajee belongs to the Dictionary's cast of mock-verifiable persons, the sort of name that appears in definitions as though everyone should already know him. He is less a plotted character than a fixture of the book's method: the solemn invocation of proper nouns to make outrageous claims feel documented. His presence rewards readers who track the running joke that this 'dictionary' has a whole society living inside its cross-references.

## Relationships

### [A](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_devil_s_dictionary_se/characters/a)

_social_

A interacts with John Elmer Pettibone Cajee as a recurring acquaintance or minor foil in satirical exchanges.

### [A](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_devil_s_dictionary_se/characters/a)

_social_

A interacts with John Elmer Pettibone Cajee as a recurring acquaintance or minor foil in satirical exchanges.

### [A](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_devil_s_dictionary_se/characters/a)

_social_

A interacts with John Elmer Pettibone Cajee as a recurring acquaintance or minor foil in satirical exchanges.

## In the story

### [R](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_devil_s_dictionary_se/chapters/r)

Quoted in the definition of 'Riches' as saying 'A gift from Heaven signifying, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."'

### [S](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_devil_s_dictionary_se/chapters/s)

Subject of a poem in the definition of 'Sheriff', describing his bad deeds and his neighbors making him sheriff to stop his lynchings.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_devil_s_dictionary_se/characters/john_elmer_pettibone_cajee
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_devil_s_dictionary_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_devil_s_dictionary_se/characters