Bill is the narrator’s roommate and friend during his four years at school. Two years into their friendship, the narrator learns that Bill is Jewish, which makes the narrator very self-conscious—the narrator also has Jewish roots but doesn’t want anyone to know. The narrator lies so successfully about this that when the he finally wants to be truthful and submits a story for a school competition that implies he’s Jewish, Bill is mad at the narrator for using an identity that isn’t his own. The narrator doesn’t have the heart to correct Bill that he does, in fact, have Jewish heritage, and this conflict ruins their friendship. By the end of their four years together, the narrator feels that he and Bill still don’t really know each other, indicating that hiding his identity in order to fit in only further isolated the narrator from his peers. During their final year, Bill also flirts with and kisses Mrs. Ramsey, which the narrator learns by reading Bill’s journal.
Get the entire Old School LitChart as a printable PDF.
Bill White Character Timeline in Old School
The timeline below shows where the character Bill White appears in Old School. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Class Picture
Bill White, the narrator’s roommate, could also win, as Bill has already written most of a...
(full context)
Bill is a contender: his stories and poems are eventful and full of good detail. Jeff...
(full context)
Chapter 3: Frost
That night, the narrator, Bill, and some of the boys in the English Club gather in Blaine Hall because it...
(full context)
Chapter 4: Übermensch
One afternoon, Bill takes The Fountainhead away from the narrator so that he’ll clean up his side of...
(full context)
...falls asleep in Latin class and checks himself back to the infirmary. After Rand’s lecture, Bill White fills the narrator in on what she said. She criticized the school motto—“Give All”—and...
(full context)
Chapter 6: The Forked Tongue
At midnight, Bill White returns from the library. The narrator hasn’t written a word. Bill asks how it’s...
(full context)
Chapter 7: When in Disgrace with Fortune
...more about him. Purcell also gives him a first edition copy of In Our Time. Bill is angry with the narrator, however. He says that the narrator can’t really know what...
(full context)
...sit. The narrator thinks about how Mrs. Ramsey had carried on a long flirtation with Bill the whole year—which the narrator had read in Bill’s notebook. It hadn’t gone past a...
(full context)
