# Smiler — You Can’t Win character guide

> Smiler in You Can’t Win by Jack Black.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** The Smiler, poor Smiler

**First appearance:** 0005-iii

## Snapshot

A grinning, doomed companion whose death sets the narrator's legal troubles in motion and whose name opens prison doors to the 'best people.'

## Who they are

Smiler is a fellow traveler whose perpetual grin and criminal exploits end in his shooting, leaving the narrator charged and jailed. Yet the fact that the narrator was with Smiler and kept his mouth shut earns him instant standing among the prison's patricians, who call themselves the 'best people.' Smiler's memory becomes a kind of currency, buying the narrator a lawyer, a cell, and a place in the underworld's hierarchy.

## Relationships

### [The Sanctimonious Kid](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters/the_sanctimonious_kid)

_friendship_

Smiler and the Sanctimonious Kid are close allies and companions in their criminal exploits.

### [The Sanctimonious Kid](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters/the_sanctimonious_kid)

_friendship_

Smiler and the Sanctimonious Kid are close allies and companions in their criminal exploits.

### [The Sanctimonious Kid](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters/the_sanctimonious_kid)

_friendship_

Smiler and the Sanctimonious Kid are close allies and companions in their criminal exploits.

## In the story

### [You Can't Win](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/you-can-t-win)

Early criminal associate, involved in safe-cracking schemes.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/vii)

The narrator's cellmate and partner in crime; he orchestrates the burglary and teaches the narrator the ropes.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/viii)

Shot and killed during a burglary; his body is shown to the narrator at the undertaker's.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/ix)

Mentioned as Jack's former partner; his reputation helps Jack gain status in the prison.

### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/chapters/xviii)

Mentioned as dead; Black envies him and Foot-and-a-Half George while in despair.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters/smiler
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/you_can_t_win_se/characters