WOMEN:
Phebe- Phebe is the best out of all the women considering she did nothing wrong. After finding Duncan's wedding ring after he killed himself, Annabelle decided to punish Phebe, her slave, by selling her. She never did anything wrong, and in return was treated terribly.
Lucy- Lucy is also a good character. She spends much of her life putting up with Willie, and being ignored. Even after she leaves Willie, she still appears with him in public. She dealt with the control of Talos, and that is impressive. "It didn't have any question, or protest or rebuke or command or so you don't love me anymore in it. It didn't have anything... It was a feat"(51).
Lois- Lois was a rather small role in the book. She was basically used by Jack for sex, and then once he saw her as a real person, he left her. She had to deal with the cynical Jack, as well as the Great Sleep Jack. She deserved recognition for being painted as sub human by her own husband.
Jack's Mother- Jack's mother proved to be an odd character. She and Jack were constantly fighting, and she seems to always be searching for youthfulness. She did, however, keep the identity of Jack's real father from him for his entire life until the judge killed himself. She then blamed Jack for every thing that happened to the judge.
Anne Stanton- Anne was pretty annoying throughout the book. Knowing that Jack was in love with her, she had an affair with the Boss anyways, and then continued to ask Jack for favors and only used him when she needed him. She was ultimately the reason Adam went over the deep end and murdered Willie. Anne's weakness and dependentness on Jack can be shown here: "but he pushed me so hard and I fell down and he said how he wouldn't be pimp to his sisters whore and nobody would ever say that about him. Find him And tell him Jack. Tell him, Jack"(544).
Sadie Burke- Sadie Burke was also fairly annoying. She often acted like she was so above her work and the men when in reality she was attached to them, and needed them. She was mean and similarly to Anne, and an affair with Willie. She also spread word of Anne and Willies affair, which led to the dramatic, murder filled climax of the book. A pretty accurate description of Sadie's personality could be both when she can't stop hassling Willie and calling him a sap, or "look here, I'm getting on alright. Why the hell shouldn't I be getting on all right?"(568). She later admits to her actions, "Oh God. I killed Willie. I killed him and Adam"(571).
Annabelle Trice- as touched upon earlier, Annabelle is the most evil. She had an affair with her husband Duncan's friend Cass Mastern, which led to the suicide of Duncan. When Phebe finds Duncan's wedding ring, Annabelle punishes her for no reason.
MEN:
Hugh Miller- Hugh is relatively the best character because he didn't believe in Willies corrupt ways, and quit for moral reasons. He is described as a man with "clean hands, pure heart". He didn't let Willie's methods corrupt his own soul. I appraciated that he stood up for his own beliefs, which is why he is number one.
Sugar Boy- Yes, Sugar Boy killed Adam Stanton, but it was due to his loyalty for Willie Talos. He was always a good guy and never minded being pushed around. He refused to work for Tiny Duffy. At the scene of the crime, "Sugar Boy was leaning above him, weeping and sputtering, trying to speak. He finally managed to get out the words, 'does it hurt much Boss- does it hurt?'"(553).
Gilbert Mastern- Gilbert is Cass' rich older brother. He wasn't a large role in the story, but Jack was able to understand him unlike any other characters. He didn't do anything terrible, like most the characters, which is why he is third on the list.
Jack Burden- Although very cynical, sexist and dry, jack isn't nearly the worst character in this novel. Some may argue that digging up the dirt on the Judge that led to his suicide was absolutely terrible, but in a way he was only doing his job. He is rather unhappy with life, as expressed through the Great Sleep and the Great Twitch. Jack did however prove to be a loyal and honest man, which is much more than you could say for the other characters.
Scholarly Attorney- This is who Jack originally thought was his father. He left Jack and his mother at a very early age, which is unfair to Jack. Because of this, Jack only had his mother for influence as well as the Judge. Jack does have good memories of him, like sharing chocolate. He also devoted his life later to helping unfortunates off the streets, like George, which greatly improves his character.
Cass Mastern- of course the fact that Cass had an affair with his best friends wife is terrible. It led to the suicide of Duncan. However, he did spend the rest of his life trying to redeem himself. He unsuccessfully set out to find Phebe.
Governor Stanton- The governor was not a huge role in the the story, but like many others he was a corrupt politician. He took a bribe to back up Judge Irwin, even when he knew he was guilty. This led to Littlepaugh being thrown in the mud basically, and ultimately led to his suicide as well.
Judge Irwin- similar to Stanton, he led a life pretending to be pure and good when he was just as corrupt. He lied to Jack his entire life by not telling him he was his father. He spends his life attempting to hide his past, which Jack was able to uncover.
Tom Talos- Tom proves to be a pretty rotten and irresponsible spoiled kid. He constantly acts entitled due to the fact that he is good at football. He later kills an innocent girl by driving drunk. Instead of learning about responsibility, he strikes again by getting a girl pregnant and denying it. One can only call it karma that he is paralyzed, and then shortly killed by pneumonia.
Willie Talos- Willie proved to be a pretty terrible man. He morphed from being a sober, somewhat genuine man, to a corrupt, alcoholic politician. Not only did he cheat on his wife twice, or encourage his sons behavior, he also lied to the world about who he was, like most politicians and got a little crazy with power. His is an example of horrible character development.
Tiny Duffy- Tiny Duffy was always in it for himself. He aligned himself with Willie in the beginning to get more power, which ultimately worked. Like Willie, he became extremely corrupt and terrible. He led the deal with Gummy Larson to take over the hospital project, and then later orchestrated the murder of Willie Talos himself. "A man called up Adam that afternoon and told him about the Boss and his sister. So he went wild... It was Duffy"(569). Jack never liked Duffy to much, and neither did I.
-Lexie Anderson
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