Tom Kernan
Once a successful traveling salesman, middle-aged Tom Kernan has developed a binge drinking problem in recent years, which has led to a personal and professional decline. At the beginning of the story, Kernan has drunkenly…
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Jack Power
Power is one of Tom Kernan’s closest friends; he’s employed in the Royal Irish Constabulary Office in Dublin Castle. After Kernan drunkenly falls in the pub and is about to be arrested by a…
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Martin Cunningham
Cunningham is the eldest and most esteemed of the story’s main friend group (consisting of himself, Jack Power, M’Coy, and Tom Kernan). While Jack Power proposes the plan to bring Kernan to…
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Mr. M’Coy
Mr. M’Coy is one of the four men—in addition to Jack Power, Martin Cunningham, and Tom Kernan—who make up the main friend group in the story. Power and Cunningham enlist him to…
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Mrs. Kernan
Mrs. Kernan has been married to Tom Kernan for 25 years, and they have five children together. She is a lifelong Catholic and remains faithful, though she also believes in some pagan elements of Irish…
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Father Purdon
Father Purdon is the priest at a Catholic retreat that Kernan attends with his friends Power, Cunningham, and M’Coy in the hope that he will find redemption from his heavy drinking and general…
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Minor Characters
Mr. Fogarty
Mr. Fogarty, a grocer, is a friend of Mr. Kernan’s. He arrives at Kernan’s house toward the end of a long discussion between Kernan, Jack Power, Martin Cunningham, and Mr. M’Coy. After presenting Kernan with a bottle of whiskey as a gift, he joins in the men’s conversation.
Young Man in a Cycling-Suit
The young man, who’s wearing a cycling-suit, is a stranger who helps Kernan regain consciousness and get into a cab after his drunken fall down the stairs at the pub.
Constable
The constable is a police officer who arrives at the scene of Kernan’s accident at the pub. He takes a statement from the pub manager and asks Kernan for his information, but Kernan doesn’t cooperate.
Manager
The manager of the pub calls the police after Kernan’s fall down the stairs and gives the constable a statement about the accident.
Bartender
The bartender is one of three men at the pub who help Kernan back up the stairs after he falls.
