The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store Character Analysis

Chona Flohr Ludlow

Chona is the daughter of Yakov Flohr, the wife of Moshe Ludlow, and the beloved friend of Bernice, Addie, Nate, and most of the Black residents of Chicken Hill. A… read analysis of Chona Flohr Ludlow

Nate Love (Nate Timblin)

Nate Timblin—formerly Nate Love—is Moshe Ludlow’s only employee. Born in South Carolina, he came to Hemlock Row as a child with his family. When his father became violent and beat Nate’s mother to death… read analysis of Nate Love (Nate Timblin)

Dodo

Dodo is the nephew of Nate and Addie Timblin. As a child, Dodo lost his hearing when the stove in his house blew up in his face. A bright, intelligent boy, Dodo quickly learns… read analysis of Dodo

Moshe Ludlow

Moshe Ludlow is a Jewish immigrant who fled Romania with his cousin Isaac when he was still a boy and who settled in eastern Pennsylvania. He finds success and love at the age of 21… read analysis of Moshe Ludlow

Fatty Davis

Fatty Davis is Shad Davis’s son, Bernice Davis’s brother, and a tireless hustler and entrepreneur who has his hand in many business ventures on Chicken Hill. Raised by his father to expect better… read analysis of Fatty Davis

Gus Plitzka (Junior)

Gus Plitzka is a second-generation Polish immigrant who, like Carl Boydkins and Doc Roberts, grows up in Pottstown. Unlike Doc, however, Gus’s position in society is far from assured and he has to work… read analysis of Gus Plitzka (Junior)

Malachi (Handsome Hasid)

Malachi is a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe who attends the Mickey Katz show at Moshe Ludlow’s theater in hopes of finding a wife. He leaves town immediately after the show but reappears 12… read analysis of Malachi (Handsome Hasid)

Monkey Pants

Monkey Pants is a boy with cerebral palsy who is incarcerated in Pennhurst with Dodo. Dodo guesses that Monkey Pants is about 12 years old but is able to ascertain nothing more about his… read analysis of Monkey Pants

Doc Roberts

Earl Roberts, known to all as “Doc” is a native son of Pottstown, Pennsylvania. He is proud of a White, Protestant heritage that he believes he can trace to the Mayflower, even though the book… read analysis of Doc Roberts

Isaac Moskovitz

Isaac Moskovitz is Moshe Ludlow’s cousin and his only relative in America. Isaac and Moshe fled Romania together as teenagers, during which time the older Isaac took on the role of Moshe’s protector. They… read analysis of Isaac Moskovitz

Bernice Davis

Bernice Davis is Shad Davis’s daughter, Fatty Davis’s sister, and Chona Flohr’s childhood friend. Bernice was an intelligent and capable student until she reached a breaking point with her White teachers’ prejudicial… read analysis of Bernice Davis

Paper (Patty Millison)

Paper is a lifelong resident of Chicken Hill who works as a laundress taking in the washing from Pottstown’s wealthiest White families. It’s in this line of work that Paper meets and befriends Miggy Fludd… read analysis of Paper (Patty Millison)

Addie Timblin

Addie Timblin is Nate Timblin’s wife and the devoted friend of Chona and Moshe Ludlow. She helps Chona run the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, she nurses Chona through her nearly fatal illness… read analysis of Addie Timblin

Yakov “Reb” Flohr

Yakov Flohr is a Bulgarian Jewish immigrant to the United States who is Chona’s father and who founded the Pottstown, Pennsylvania synagogue. Flohr arrived in American in 1917, worked for a few years as… read analysis of Yakov “Reb” Flohr

Big Soap (Enzo Carissimi)

Big Soap is an Italian immigrant who came to America at the age of 12. When his father and mother (Fioria Carissimi) settled in the Chicken Hill neighborhood of Pottstown, Big Soap and… read analysis of Big Soap (Enzo Carissimi)

Miggy Fludd

Miggy Fludd is a Black woman who belongs to the extended Lowgod family and who lives in Hemlock Row. At one point, Miggy was a laundress whose reputation matched only Paper’s; the two women… read analysis of Miggy Fludd

Reverend Ed Spriggs

Known to many—particularly those that don’t respect him—as “Snooks,” the Reverend Ed Spriggs is the leader of Chicken Hill’s Black church and is the self-appointed leader of the Pottstown Association of Negro Men (which also… read analysis of Reverend Ed Spriggs

Son of Man

Son of Man is a sadistic Pennhurst attendant, whose real name is never revealed. Son of Man belongs to the Lowgods, like Miggy and Bullis, and he grew up on Hemlock Row. However, he… read analysis of Son of Man

Fioria Carissimi

Fioria Carissimi is Big Soap’s mother. A Sicilian immigrant, she is friendly with both the primary social group for Italian American women—the Volunteer Women’s Association of St. Aloysius Catholic Church—and with Pia Fabicelli… read analysis of Fioria Carissimi

Karl Feldman

Karl Feldman is the hapless rabbi who replaces Yakov Flohr as the leader of the Ahavat Achim synagogue when Flohr moves on to a bigger community in Reading. Feldman means well but bumbles through life… read analysis of Karl Feldman

Rusty

Rusty is a young, Black Chicken Hill resident who is on good terms with both the so-called Pottstown Association of Negro Men (comprised of Nate Timblin, Reverend Ed Spriggs, himself, and his uncle)… read analysis of Rusty

Marv Skrupskelis

Marv Skrupskelis is the son of Norman Skrupskelis and the twin brother of Irv Skrupskelis. When Norman dies and the brothers inherit their father’s shoe shop, it is Marv who makes the shoes. Marv… read analysis of Marv Skrupskelis

Irv Skrupskelis

Irv Skrupskelis is the son of Norman Skrupskelis and the twin brother of Marv Skrupskelis. When Norman dies and the brothers inherit their father’s shoe shop, Irv—the somewhat friendlier of the famously irritable and… read analysis of Irv Skrupskelis

Carl Boydkins

Carl Boydkins is a cousin of Doc Roberts who has an idyllic early childhood in Pottstown, but whose family loses out on land and wealth amid the industrialization of the early 20th century. His perception… read analysis of Carl Boydkins

Mr. Hudson (Junow Farnok)

Mr. Hudson is a Hungarian Jewish man who immigrated to America with his family. His anxious haste to assimilate is demonstrated by his adoption of the very American sounding name Mr. Hudson. When he and… read analysis of Mr. Hudson (Junow Farnok)

Duck Boy

Duck Boy is a former inmate of Pennhurst whose story Miggy describes to Paper, Nate, and Fatty. Duck Boy’s parents abandoned him at the institution because he quacked like a duck instead… read analysis of Duck Boy

Pia Fabicelli

Pia Fabicelli is a young and attractive Sicilian immigrant who lives on Chicken Hill and is friends with Fioria Carissimi. Because she cleans offices downtown, including at City Hall, Pia is a valuable source… read analysis of Pia Fabicelli

Chick Webb

William Henry “Chick” Webb is the historical figure whom Moshe Ludlow hires (on the advice of Nate Timblin) as the first Black act to perform at Moshe’s All-American Dance Hall. Chick Webb was a… read analysis of Chick Webb

Mickey Katz

Mickey Katz is the historical figure who brings Moshe Ludlow his first real commercial success at the theater and who thus launches Moshe’s successful business as a promoter in Pottstown. Born and raised in a… read analysis of Mickey Katz

Henry Lit

Henry Lit is a Jewish immigrant from Russia and a former boxer who works for Mr. Rosen—the job pays well enough to fuel Lit’s gambling addiction. He visits Pottstown over Memorial Day weekend to… read analysis of Henry Lit

Norman Skrupskelis

Norman Skrupskelis is a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant who settles in Pottstown with his family, including twin sons Irv and Marv, and opens a shoe store. He crafts orthopedic shoes for both Chona Flohr and… read analysis of Norman Skrupskelis

Gene

Gene is the cousin of Fatty and Bernice. He lives in Philadelphia. When he “borrows” a horse from an all-White riding club to show off the antique fire engine he’s just purchased and the… read analysis of Gene

Ed Bole

As Lord Earl Blessington of Sussex, Ed Bole is a common ancestor of Doc Roberts and Carl Boydkins, who both believe that the Blessington family came to America on the Mayflower. In truth… read analysis of Ed Bole

Shad Davis

Shad Davis — Shad Davis is Fatty Flohr and Bernice's father. When Yakov Flohr decides to have a house built, he hires Shad and several other workers to construct it for him. He also… read analysis of Shad Davis

Minor Characters

Mr. Nig Rosen

Mr. Nig Rosen the Jewish businessman, moneylender, and thug in Philadelphia who lends Gus Plitzka the money he needs to complete his purchase of Clover Dairy, then jacks up the interest rate afterwards. Mr. Rosen sends Henry Lit to threaten Plitzka into paying up.

Bullis

Bullis is the old man who lives on Hemlock Row and who delivers eggs to Pennhurst daily. A member of the extended Lowgod family, he reluctantly agrees to help Nate spring Dodo from Pennhurst at Miggy’s behest, although he knows and dislikes Nate by reputation.

Hirshel Koffler

Hirshel Koffler is a recently-arrived Jewish immigrant from Austria. He came to America with his brother Yigel in part to escape the growing power of the Nazi Party. The brothers work for the railroad, and they participate in the plot to free Dodo.

Yigel Koffler

Yigel Koffler is a recently-arrived Jewish immigrant from Austria who came to America with his brother Hirshel in part to escape the growing power of the Nazi Party. The brothers work for the railroad, and they participate in the plot to free Dodo.

Anna Morse

Anna Morse is the Black Pottstown businesswoman who owns the only Black funeral home in the area. She is friends with Nate Timblin.

Billy O’Connell

Billy O’Connell is the one member of the Pottstown police force whom Fatty Davis fears.

Vivana Agnello

Vivana Agnello is an Italian immigrant who lives on Chicken Hill. She is the reigning queen of the Italian American community given her position as president of the Catholic church's Volunteer Women's Association.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store Characters