Smith #3 Worst to Best

Worst to best:

Women

Annabelle Trice- married a painfully nice man but betrayed him often with Cass Mastern. She seems to devilishly enjoy the power of juggling the two men and her silent husband ends up committing suicide in their library.

Sadie Burke- A smart secretary to Willie but as he and her become more and more romantically involved, aside to his wife, she becomes increasingly jealous of his interactions with other women. She has a constant manipulation about her. When Willie tells her he is going back to Lucy she turns the table on Willie and tells Tiny Duffy that Willie had been sleeping with Ann Stanton.

Lucy Talos- Although the wife to Willie is seemingly sweet she is constantly disappointed by Willie’s inability to live up to her moral standards. She hides her emotions and quietly suffers instead of creating a life for herself that makes her happy

Phebe- the slave to Annabelle Trice and who is the only person outside of Annabelle, her husband, and Cass who knows of the affair and the suicide. Because of Phebe’s knowledge of these events Annabelle sells her. Phebe never gave anyone reason to doubt her loyalty and was as un-judgmental as possible when she learned the news that shamed Annabelle so much.

Ms.Littlepaugh- Her brother committed suicide because the company he had worked so hard to build quickly turned on him when the time was convenient. Ms.Littlepaugh became poor due to lack of his income and was awarded insurance money for his death, no one except her knew that he killed himself but the reasons for her not correcting the cause of death to the insurance company was because she didn’t want his death to be a sin. She wanted to be able to burry him and have a church ceremony which would have been difficult otherwise considering that according to the bible suicide is a “sin”.

Men

Judge Irwin- He is a Burden’s landing resident and former states Attorney General, also friends with the Scholorly Attorny (Jacks father). Judge Irwin was a poor man 20 years back, Jack discovered while doing investigative work for Willie, and to stay afloat financially the Judge took a bride from the American Electric Power company in 1913.

Willie Talos- Otherwise known as “The Boss” is manipulative and aims to get what he wants in most circumstances but non-the less he is an impressive man. He was brought up without money and without the funds for law school and yet he stayed up every night to learn the rules of the law in order to one day be able to make a difference in politics for the average person. But he is still a politician who cheats on his wife and makes others, like Jack, do his dirty work for him and he will always aim to win.

Adam Stanton- One of Jack Burden’s childhood friends who ended up making a name for himself in medicine as a surgeon. He is Ann Stanton’s brother and the three of them grew up together. He is a morally conscious man.

Sugar-Boy- He is a sweet stuttering Irishman who is the driver to Willie and blindly loyal to him. He agrees with every step and move that The Boss thinks or nods to and doesn’t have his own interest at heart, it is the best interest of those he works for that he is looking out for.

George (the unfortunate)- most if not all of the characters in this novel are in one way or another “impure” but there is a gentility in the strange qualities of George. He had been in the circus doing aerial art with his wife until she died and since then has lost work and all ability to stand tall things, even the height from him standing to the floor. He does nothing with his days but create angels out of chewed food or eat chocolate. It is a sad and painful way to live a life after loosing a loved one but it is raw and without any hidden agenda.