Dick Diver
The story’s protagonist is a charismatic American expatriate living in France with his wife, Nicole, and their two children, Lanier and Topsy. Dick is attractive and charming, and his magnetism draws interesting and…
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Rosemary Hoyt
The young Hollywood film actress is incredibly beautiful and symbolizes the hope and innocence of the younger generation. She is completely devoted to her mother, Mrs. Speers, who has raised Rosemary to be independent…
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Nicole Diver (Nicole Warren)
Nicole Diver is the “granddaughter of a self-made American capitalist,” and she uses her family wealth to provide for her children and husband, Dick. At 24 years old, Nicole is classically and mesmerizingly beautiful…
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Abe North
Abe is an exquisite musician and composer, but after enormous success early in life, has since failed to compose anything new. He is a great friend of the Divers’, and his presence at the beginning…
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Mary North
Mary, a young, tanned, American woman is Abe’s wife. She comes from a working-class family but now moves in fashionable circles in Europe. She is extremely patient with Abe, who always ignores her when…
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Mrs. Elsie Speers
Rosemary’s mother, twice widowed, is quite accustomed to hardship. Relatively poor after the death of her second husband, Mrs. Speers industriously seizes upon her young daughter’s blooming good looks, deciding to put Rosemary to…
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Beth (Baby) Warren
Nicole’s older sister assumes a maternal role after the death of their mother. However, unaware of the abuse between Nicole and their father, Mr. Warren, Baby finds it difficult to empathize with her…
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Tommy Barban
Tommy, “an unmistakably Latin young man,” is a friend of Dick and Nicole Diver’s. He is particularly fond of Nicole and goes to great lengths to protect her from gossip and rumors. Tommy is…
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Lanier and Topsy Diver
Dick and Nicole’s children. The Divers don’t spend all that much time with the children; a full-time staff cares for Lanier and Topsy, an arrangement that was quite normal for wealthy society at the…
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Collis Clay
A young man from the American South. He is introduced in the story as Rosemary’s “young man,” but his romantic interest in her is seemingly unrequited. He accompanies Rosemary, Nicole and Dick Diver…
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Mr. McKisco
Violet’s husband, Mr. McKisco, is a writer and considers himself a real intellectual. He is a hateful man and often undermines and belittles his wife. McKisco repulses Rosemary on the morning of his duel…
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Violet McKisco
Mr. McKisco’s wife and a tactless gossip. She envies Dick and Nicole Diver and their fashionable circle, but often says unkind things about them. Upon meeting Violet, Rosemary is immediately irritated by her and…
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Franz Gregorovious
Dick’s friend and Kaethe’s husband. Franz is a successful psychiatrist at Doctor Dohmler’s psychiatric clinic in Zurich. Visiting Franz to assist him with a complex case, Dick learns about Nicole—a patient…
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Jules Peterson
Mr. Peterson is a “small, respectable” black man from Stockholm. Embroiled in Abe’s blunder with the police—acting as a key witness for him when he falsely accuses a black man of theft—Peterson fears for…
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Mr. Devereux Warren
Nicole and Beth’s father. Mr. Warren is a charming and handsome American man. When he delivers Nicole to Doctor Dohmler’s clinic in Zurich, he tells Franz that she has a nervous condition and…
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Maria Wallis
Laura’s sister and a wealthy American woman in France. Dick, Nicole, Rosemary and Mary witness her shoot a man in the train station in Paris as they wave goodbye to Abe…
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Hosain, the Conte di Minghetti
Mary marries Hosain after separating from Abe. Hosain attended an English private school and made his large fortune through business ventures in South East Asia. It is not clear exactly where Hosain is from…
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Lady Caroline Sibly Biers
An unbearably snobby British woman and a close friend of Mary’s. She and Dick have an argument at a dinner party after he insults the English over dinner. Later, when Lady Caroline and Mary…
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Luis Campion
An “effeminate” man who is portrayed as a wimp and is implied to have had a love affair with Mr. Humphry. Most scholars agree that Fitzgerald probably intended for Campion to be gay; at…
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Minor Characters
Frau Kaethe Gregorovious
Franz’s wife is opinionated but diplomatic, choosing carefully the correct moment to advise him that Dick needs to be dismissed from their clinic due to his alcoholism. While living at the clinic, Nicole takes pains to avoid Kaethe, considering her smelly and provincial.
Nicotera
Rosemary’s Italian lover and co-star in a movie that they are filming in Rome. When Dick meets Rosemary three years after their initial love affair, he is vehemently jealous of Nicotera, calling him a racial slur out of malice.
Hillis
A friend of Collis Clay’s. According to Clay, Rosemary was entangled in a scandal when she was caught with Hillis in a locked train compartment with the blinds drawn. Clay recounts this story to Dick, insinuating that Rosemary might not be so pure and innocent after all.
Mrs. Abrams
A friend of Violet and Mr. McKisco’s. Rosemary meets her on the beach on her first day at Gausse’s hotel.
Earl Brady
A film producer working from his studio in France. He is attracted to Rosemary and, although she feels some chemistry between them, decides that he pales in comparison to Dick.
Professor Dohmler
A renowned psychiatry expert in Zurich. It is at his clinic that he, Dick, and Franz discuss a course of action for Nicole’s treatment.
Gausse
A French man who owns an impressive, pink hotel on the beach of the French Riviera. Dick, Nicole, and their set frequent the hotel, and Abe claims that it was the Divers who made the coastal resort popular.
Laura Wallis
Maria’s sister. When Nicole calls her to tell her that Maria has been arrested for shooting a man in the station, Laura admits that she had sensed that something bad might happen.
Freeman
A black man and “prominent […] restaurateur” who is falsely arrested and put in jail when Abe alerts the police that he has been robbed.
Ed Elkins
Elkins is Dick’s roommate when he’s studying in Switzerland during the war. Dick is perturbed by the notion that he might actually be quite similar to Elkins, who Dick considers basic and simple.
Conte di Marmora
Marmora is Baby and Nicole’s cousin. Baby sends him to accompany Nicole on a trip when she has some vacation time from the clinic. He seems to be interested in Nicole and tries to flatter her in Dick’s presence.
The Consul
An Italian man who works at the Consulate in Rome. He encounters Baby Warren when she storms into his office, demanding that he help her save Dick from Italian prison. He detests the spoiled and petulant attitude of Americans in Europe.
Swanson
Swanson is the Vice-Consul working with the Consulate in Rome.
Doctor Dangeu
Dick meets Doctor Dangeu when he is treating Mr. Warren on his sick bed. Dr. Dangeu is professional but seems overly concerned with ensuring he has good business.
Doctor Lladislau
One of Franz and Dick’s colleagues and employees at the clinic in Zurich. Dick doesn’t like him, believing him to have weak character. Dick tries, and fails, to frame Lladislau so that he’ll get the blame for an angry client instead of Dick.
Mr. McKibben
Friends with Tommy Barban. Dick meets Mr. McKibben in Germany when he is traveling around Europe and hears about how he and Tommy evaded the Russian army.
Von Cohn Morris
An alcoholic patient at Dick and Franz’s clinic.
Mr. Morris
Von Cohn Morris’s father. He makes a big scene when taking his son out of Dick and Franz’s clinic, claiming that Dick has an alcohol problem himself and has been neglectful of his son’s recovery.
T.F. Golding
A former lover of Baby's. Dick and Nicole attend a disastrous party on his boat.
Augustine
The Diver's cook.
Francisco
A teenage boy or young man whom Dick briefly treats in an effort to "cure" him of his homosexuality.
Señor Pardo y Cuidad Real
A Chilean man who wants Dick to "cure" his son of homosexuality.
Mr. Dumphry
A friend of Violet and Mr. McKisco’s. It is implied that he has had some sort of love affair with Luis Campion, who is heartbroken and forlorn when his feelings are not reciprocated.