Edward Bloom (William’s Father)
Edward Bloom, William’s father and Sandra’s husband, is one of the story’s two protagonists. Edward is about to die of cancer when the story starts, and William narrates the story of Edward’s life…
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William Bloom
William Bloom, Edward’s son, is the story’s narrator and one its two protagonists. While coming to terms with Edward’s impending death, William narrates the story of his father’s life as a series of metaphorical…
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Sandra (William’s Mother)
Sandra is Edward’s wife and William’s mother. Edward and Sandra meet when Edward is at college in Auburn. A popular beauty, Sandra is dating a bully named Don Price at the time but…
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Don Price (Gang Leader)
Don Price is Edward’s romantic rival for Sandra during his college days in Auburn. Don is a bully who’s metaphorically described as running an evil gang, which in reality likely means a fraternity. Don…
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Jenny Hill
Edward’s love interest, Jenny Hill is a beautiful 20-year-old-woman with blue eyes and dark braided hair who lives in a town called Specter. Edward meets and falls in love with her when he is…
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Dr. Bennett
Dr. Bennett is the Bloom family’s longstanding doctor, who has nursed Edward through his cancer. Dr. Bennett has become more like a friend to the family after tending to their medical needs for so long…
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Dog
Dog is a metaphorical beast who guards the boundary between the comforts of home and the world at large. In one of the story’s metaphorical tales, Edward has to cross Dog’s path to leave Ashland…
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River Girl
River girl is a metaphorical siren whom Edward sees from a distance in the water at several instances in the story. She represents hope, and emerges three times: first, in the place where Edward feels…
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Karl the Giant
Karl is a metaphorical teenage giant who is perpetually hungry. Karl, who has been abandoned, wreaks havoc on Edward’s home town of Ashland until Edward seeks him out and soothes him with empathy. Edward…
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Willie
Willie is an ageing man who is trapped in the place that had no name. He shows Edward around and explains that the place is where people who are too afraid to seek their…
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Ben Jimson
Ben Jimson is an old man who runs a country store. Edward meets Ben after being brutally beaten and robbed, but will not accept “charity” from Ben. Instead, he tries to clean Ben’s store in…
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Old Lady
The old lady is a woman with a glass eye who’s rumored to be a witch. She provides Edward shelter when he first arrives in his college town of Auburn. In one of the story’s…
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Muriel Rainwater
Muriel Rainwater is a hefty, rich woman who seeks a girdle strong enough to hold her in. Edward meets her when he is working in the lingerie section of a department store, a phase in…
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Jennifer Morgan
Jennifer is a three-year-old girl who wanders out into the street where Edward and Sandra live as newlyweds. The town is being terrorized by a vicious dog, and Jennifer is about to be eaten by…
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Old Man
The old man appears in Edward’s dream about dying. Towards the end of his life, Edward has a dream about in which many people flood to his house and camp out on his lawn…
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Minor Characters
Jasper “Buddy” Barron
Buddy is Edward’s business partner in the sales firm he establishes, Bloom Inc. William tells the story of Edward’s first night in the adult world as Buddy would tell the story. Buddy emphasizes Edward’s tenacity, courage, ambition, and perseverance.
Karl’s Mother
Karl’s mother is a woman who can’t keep up with feeding her son, a ravenous teenage giant. She slips away in frustration one day, leaving Karl to fend for himself.
Man Even Older Than Willie
The man who is even older than Willie is yet another person trapped in the place that had no name. He tries to dissuade Edward from facing Dog.
Amos Calloway
Amos is a beloved local man in Alabama who died some years earlier. When Edward and Sandra are newlyweds, they buy Amos’s old house. The townsfolk, however, miss Amos so much that they snub Edward and Sandra and make life difficult for them in their new home.
Mr. Templeton (Sandra’s Father)
Sandra’s father is senile and obsessed with horse riding. Edward and Sandra visit him to inform him of their marriage, but he forgets almost as soon as they tell him.
Edward’s Mother
Edward’s mother is a woman who lives in Alabama. She gives birth to Edward during a drought.
Edward’s Father
Edward’s father is a man who lives through a drought in Alabama that ends when his son, Edward, is born.
Al
Al is a shop owner in Specter, the town that Edward buys.
Wiley
Wiley is a local person in Specter, the town that Edward buys.
