ATGiBcharacters



Francie Nolan:
 * "And the child, Francie Nolan, was of all the Rommelys and all the Nolans. She had the violent weaknesses and passion for beauty of the shanty Nolans. She was a mosaic of her grandmother Rommely's mysticism, her tale-telling, her great belief in everything and her compassion for the weak ones. She had a lot of her grandfather Rommely's cruel will. She had some of her Aunt Evy's talent for mimicking, some of Ruthie Nolan's possessiveness. She has Aunt Sissy's love for life and her love for children. She had Johnny's sentimentality without his good looks. She has all of Katie's soft ways and only half of the invisible steel of Katie. She was made up of all these good and these bad things. She was made up of more, too. She was the books she read in the library. She was the flower in the brown bowl. Part of her life was made from the tree growing rankly in the yard. She was the bitter quarrels she had with her brother whom she loved dearly. She was Katie's secret, despairing weeping. She was the shame of her father staggering home drunk. She was all of these things and of something more that did no come from the Rommelys nor the Nolans, the reading, the observing, the living from day to day. It was something that had been born into her and only her -- the something different from anyone else in the two families. It was what God or whatever is His equivalent puts into each soul that is given life -- the one thing such as that which makes no two fingerprints on the face of the earth alike" (Smith 72).
 * Eleven years old at the time that we meet her in 1912
 * Was born in 1901 on Bogart Street in Brooklyn, New York
 * Daughter of Katie and Johnny Nolan
 * Sister of ten-year-old Neeley
 * Loves penny candies
 * Reads one book per day, going in alphabetic order in the library
 * Also reads one page each from the //Protestant Bible// and //Shakespeare// every day
 * Highly curious and opinionated
 * Gifted writer
 * Has few friends

Neeley Nolan:
 * "Neeley looked exactly like Johnny. Katie would make him the kind of man Johnny should have been. He would have everything that was good about Johnny; she would encourage that. She would stamp out all of the things that were bad about Johnny as they came up in the boy, Neeley...Francie and Johnny would get by somehow, but she would take no chances with the boy" (Smith 96).
 * Original name is Cornelius Nolan
 * Francie's brother
 * A year younger than Francie
 * Inherited Johnny's looks and musical talent
 * Unlike Johnny, Neeley does not like alcohol
 * Katie has more of a connection with Neeley
 * Neeley is hardworking, just like Katie

Laurie Nolan:
 * "Sissy stepped aside. Francie lifted the blanket from the baby's head. The baby was a beautiful little thing with white skin and downy black curls which grew down into a point on her forehead., like Mama's. The baby's eyes opened briefly. Francie noticed that they were a milky blue. <> Laurie was a good baby. She slept contentedly most of the time. When she was awake, she put in the time lying quietly and trying to focus her berry brown eyes on her infinitesimal fist" (Smith 342).
 * Born May 28, 1916
 * Original name is Annie Laurie Nolan
 * Was born in the apartment with the help of Francie
 * Towards the end of the book gets adopted by Mr. McShane and is known as his daughter
 * Most notably looks like Katie more than Johnny

Katie Nolan: Johnny Nolan: Sissy:
 * "Johnny knew he was doomed and accepted it. Katie wouldn't accept it. She started a new life where her old one left off. She exchanged her tenderness for capability. She gave up her dreams and took over hard realities in their place. Katie had a fierce desire for survival which made her a fighter" (Smith 97).
 * Married Johnny when she was young
 * She is a hard worker, who is the primary breadwinner
 * Katie is mainly a janitoress
 * She has given up on Johnny, but she still loves him
 * She loves Neeley more than Francie
 * Gave birth to three children: Francie, Neeley, and Laurie Ann
 * She does not accept any form of charity
 * Learned from her mother to make the children read from the Protestant Bible and Shakespeare and to save money in a jar
 * After Johnny's death, she marries McShane
 * Does not show her emotions often
 * "She heard the girls at the next table say that he was a nifty dresser. Their escorts said he was a nifty dancer, too. Although he did not belong to her, Katie was proud of him" (Smith 58).
 * Married Katie and they have three children: Neeley, Francie, and Laurie
 * His three brothers all died before the age of thirty-five
 * Used to date Hildy, but ditched her for Katie
 * Loved to dance and sing
 * Doesn't have a stable job and sometimes works as an entertainer (in dancing and singing)
 * Is an alcoholic
 * Francie connects more with Johnny
 * Calls Francie "Prima Donna"
 * Is constantly nagged by Katie
 * Thinks that most of the things that he does ends in failure
 * His son, Neeley, looks exactly like him and has the same talents as him
 * Dies from pneumonia and alcoholism
 * "She loved all the scratching curs on the street and wept for the gaunt scavenging cats who slunk around Brooklyn corners with their sides swollen looking for a hole in which they might bring forth their young. She loved the sooty sparrows and thought that the very grass that grew in the lots was beautiful. She picked bouquets of white clover in the lots believing they were the most beautiful flowers God ever made. Once she saw a mouse in her room. The next night she set out a tiny box for him with cheese crumbs in it. Yes, she listened to everybody's troubles but no one listened to hers. But that was right because Sissy was a giver and never a taker" (Miller 101).
 * The oldest Rommely sister
 * Born three months after her parents landed in America
 * Katie's sister
 * Francie and Neely's aunt
 * Is obsessed with boys, from a young age
 * Wants to marry and have children
 * Sissy is somewhat promiscuous, in the sense that she will sleep with married men.
 * She gets so caught up in trying to please everybody.
 * Attempted to help Johnny out of his alcoholism
 * Has ten babies that did not live
 * Likes to call every boyfriend she has "John"
 * Married three times
 * Has a daughter named Sarah that she adopted from an Italian family

Thomas Rommely:
 * "Thomas Rommely never forgave his daughter. In fact he never forgave any of his daughters for marrying. His philosophy about children was simple and profitable: a man enjoyed himself begetting them, put in as little money and effort into their upbringing as was possible, and then put them to work earning money for the father as soon as they got into their teens. Katie, at seventeen, had only been working four years when she married. He figured that she owed him money. Rommely hated everybody and everything. No one ever found out why. He was a massive handsome man with iron-gray curly hair covering a leonine head. He had run away from Austria with his bride to avoid being conscripted into the army. Although he hated the old country, he stubbornly refused to like the new country. He understood and could speak English if he wanted to. But he refused to answer when addrressed in English and forbade the speaking of English in his home. Consequently, the four daughters grew up having little communion with their father. He never spoke to them except to curse them. He hated Austria. He hated America Most of all he hated Russia. No one understood his hatred of that dimly known country and its vaguely known people. This was the man who was Francie's maternal grandfather. She hated him the way his daughters hated him" (Smith 61).
 * Father of the Rommely sisters and husband to Mary Rommely
 * Grandfather to Francie, Neeley, Laurie, Little Willie, Blossom, Paul Jones, and Sarah "Little Sissy"
 * Emigrated from Austria
 * Does not pay attention to family
 * Is known as the devil himself
 * Does not follow the Catholic religion
 * Disapproved of any and all his daughter's marriages
 * Does not spend time to bond with any of his grandchildren

Mary Rommely:
 * "Mary Rommely, [Thomas'] wife and Francie's grandmother, was a saint. She had no education; she could not read or write her own name, but she had in her memory thousands of stories and legends. Some she had invented to entertain her children; others were old folk tales told to her by her mother and her grandmother. She knew many old-country songs and understood all the wise sayings... Each time Francie began the prayer, //Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee//, her grandmother's face came before her" (Smith 62-63).
 * Very religious
 * Wife to Thomas Rommely
 * Mother to Evy, Sissy, Ursula and Katie
 * Grandmother to Francie, Neeley, Laurie, Little Willie, Blossom, Paul Jones, and Sarah "Little Sissy"
 * A wholesome woman herself, but understands the reasons behind immorality
 * Emigrated from Austria with Thomas

Ruthie Nolan:
 * "Ruthie Nolan had come from Ireland with her handsome young husband soon after their marriage. They had four sons born a year apart. Then Mickey died at thirty and Ruthie carried on. She managed to get Andy, Georgie, Frankie and Johnny through the sixth grade" (pg 70).
 * Very catholic woman
 * Hated Katie when Katie and Johnny first got married

Evy:
 * "Evy was the third Rommely girl. She, too, had married young... Evy was the refined one of the family. She lived in a cheap basement flat on the fringes of a very refined neighborhood and studied her betters" (Smith 67).
 * Evy wanted to be somebody and to have a future for her children.
 * She had three children; Willie, Blossom, and Paul Jones.
 * Evy loved music but she had no talent, so she put her children into music classes.
 * Evy was amazing at telling stories and ofte loved to mock her husband and his antics with his horse Drummer.
 * Evy was often the sister depended on for advice when it came to family matters and she always lifts spirits with one of her animated stories.

Willie Flittman:
 * "... a handsome, black-haired man with a silky mustache and liquid eyes like an Italian. Francie thought that he had a very comical name and she laughed to herself every time she thought of it. Flittman wasn't much good. He wasn't exactly a bum, he was just a weak man who whined all the time. But he played the guitar. Those Rommely women had a weakness for any kind of man who was by way of being a creator or a performer. Any kind of musical, artistic, or story- telling was wonderful to them and they felt it their duty to nurture and gaurd these things" (Smith 67).
 * Works as a milkman with his horse Drummer
 * Had worked as milkman for 5 years around the same time he met Evy
 * Is missing his middle finger on his right hand

Drummer:
 * "Evy's husband and his horse, Drummer, had been butter enemies for eight years. He was mean to the horse; he kicked him and punched him and cursed at him and pulled too hard on the bit. The horse was mean to Uncle Willie Flittman. The horse knew the route and stopped automatically at each delivery. It had been his habit to start up again as soon as Flittman mounted the wagon. Lately, he had taken to starting up the instant Flittman got off to deliver milk. He'd break into a trot and often Flittman had to run more than half a block to catch up with him" (Smith 239).
 * Willie treated Drummer badly and Drummer retaliated every time.
 * Drummer knocked Willie unconscious one time.
 * Drummer would wet Willie while he bathed him.
 * Drummer had a huge crush on Evy and listened to her all the time.
 * Evy began using Drummer for the milk route and they got along just fine.
 * In the end Drummer was given to a ladylike guy to deliver with, but he still longed for Evy.
 * Drummer and Flittman had been fighting for five years.

Little Willie, Blossom, and Paul Jones:
 * "Evy, loving talent in music and lacking it herself, sought for it avidly in her children. She hoped that Blossom would like to sing and Paul Jones would want to play the fiddle and Little Willie the piano. But there was no music in the children" (Smith 69).
 * Children of Evy and Willie Flittman
 * Grandchildren of Mary and Thomas Rommely
 * Cousins of Francie and Neeley Nolan and Sarah "Little Sissy"

Mickey, Andy, Georgie, and Frankie Nolan:
 * "The boys grew up, handsome, able to play music, to dance and to sing and with all the girls crazy for them. Though the Nolans lived in the shabbiest house in Irish Town, the boys were the dressiest in the neighborhood. The ironing board was kept set up in the kitchen. One or the other was always pressing pants. smoothing out a tie or ironing a shirt. They were the pride of Shantytown, the tall, blond, good-looking Nolan lads. They had quick feet in shows that were kept highly polished. Their trousers hung just so and their hates sat jauntily on their head. But they were all dead before they were thirty-five- all dead, and of the four, only Johnny left children" (Smith 70).
 * Mickey died at age 30
 * None of the sons besides Johnny ever married
 * All the sons went to school until 6th grade and then went to work
 * All worked as a singing waiters quartet
 * All had drinking problems
 * All died spontaneously and recklessly

Sister Ursula:
 * "Eliza, the second daughter of Mary and Thomas, lacked the prettiness and fire of her three sisters. She was plain and dull and indifferent to life. Mary, wanting to give one of her daughters to the church, decided that Eliza was the one. Eliza entered a covenant at sixteen. She chose a very rigid order of nuns. She was never permitted to leave the covenant walls except on the occasion of her parent''s death. She toke the name of Ursala and as Sister Ursala she became an unreal legend to Francie" (Smith 66).
 * Is not mentioned much throughout the story
 * Never had the urge to have a man like her sisters
 * At one point influenced Francie to try and become a nun.

Steve "John":
 * "Francie stared at him, wondering about him. The family regarded him as temporary, as they had regarded Sissy's other husbands and lovers. Francie wondered whether he, himself, felt temporary. His real name was Steve but Sissy always referred to him as "my John" and when the family spoke of him, they called him "The John" or "Sissy's John." Francie wondered whether the men in the publishing house where he worked called him John, too. Did he ever protest? Did he ever say, 'Look here, Sissy. My name is Steve and not John. And tell your sisters to call me Steve, too'" (Smith 315).
 * Steve was her third marriage.
 * He sold magazines and that was one of the main reasons Sissy kept him around in the beginning.
 * At first he humored Sissy when she told him she was having a child, but became entirely frustrated when she insisted that it was coming.
 * Couldn't stand to lose Sissy, so he went along with her having a child, even when he found out it wasn't his.
 * When Steve found out Sissy was married before and had lied to him about it, he became furious.
 * He laid down the law and told Sissy and her family that he was now Steve and not "John."
 * Made sure that they knew he was the man of the house and that he was her HUSBAND, not her temporary man.
 * He was finally the man in the family of the three sisters and their families.
 * He had a problem with taking another man's child but seemed absolutely fine with Lucia's baby when he found out it wasn't Sissys.
 * He married Sissy in a church and made sure it was legal this time.
 * Sissy falls in love with him and he is finally the man she has HER own child with.

Mr. McGarrity:
 * "McGarrity was a man with a great sin on his soul. He hated his children. His daughter, Irene, was Francie's age. Irene was a pink- eyed girl and her hair was of such a pale red that it, too, could be called pink. She was mean and stupid. His son. Jim, ten years old, had no outstanding characteristics excepting that his buttocks were always too fat for his breeches. McGarrity had another dream; it was that Mae would come to him and confess that the children were not his. The dream made him happy. As long as he knew they were his, he hated them because he saw all of his own and Mae's worst traits in them" (Smith 306).
 * Wealthy owner of the neighborhood saloon
 * Is of Irish descent
 * Tries to befriend look after the Nolans after Johnny's death
 * Gives Francie and Neeley their first jobs working at the saloon

Mrs. McGarrity:
 * "Then he had married Mae. She had been a curvy, sensuous girl with dark red hair and a wide mouth. But after a while of marriage, she turned into a stout blowsy woman, known in Brooklyn as the "Saloon type". Mae wouldn't change into his dream wife" (305).
 * Met Mr. McGarrity at his saloon when she was a singer
 * Cheated in the relationship with men from the saloon
 * Has two kids with McGarrity, Irene and Jim

Lucia and Family:
 * "By chance, Sissy found out that a beautiful sixteen-year-old girl out in Maspeth had gotten into trouble with a married man and was going to have a baby. Her parents, Sicilians lately come over from the other side, had shut up the girl in a dark room so that the neighbors could not see her shame increase. Her father kept her on a diet of bread and water. He had a theory that this would weaken her so that she and her child would die in childbirth. Lest the kind-hearted mother feed Lucia during his absence, the father left no money in the house when he went to work in the mornings. He brought a bagful of groceries each night when he returned home and watched that no food was sneaked out and set aside for the girl. After the family had eaten, he gave the girl her daily ration of half a loaf of bread and a jug of water" (Smith 266).
 * Lucia was faced with starvation and cruelty by the hand of her own father.
 * Lucia's father believed that she deserved this punishment for dhaming the family.
 * Lucia and the baby were Sissy's way to the future family she wanted.
 * The mother was skittish at first but broke under pressure when Sissy threatened to arrest her for her daughter's treatment.
 * Lucia was frightened and abnormaly thin when Sissy first met her.
 * They couldn't read or speak english well at all.
 * Lucia's mother was grateful for Sissy's offer to take the child.
 * Lucia adored Sissy as well as the mother and other children too.
 * In the end the father was ahsamed of his actions towards his daughter when he saw the healthy baby and son. The family shamed the father and wouldn't accept his apologies.
 * Lucia and her family went back to Italy because the new world had only brought them shame and poverty.

Joanna:
 * "Each time Joanna passed, her cheeks got pinker, her head went higher, and her skirt flipped behind her more defiantly. She seemed to grow prettier and prouder as she walked. She stopped oftener than needed to adjust the baby's coverlet. She maddened the women by touching the baby's cheek and smiling tenderly at it. How dare she! How dare she, they thought, act as though she had a right to all that" (Smith 232).
 * Got into some trouble with a man and had a baby out of wedlock
 * All the women hate her because they envy how free she is. They're forced to endure life with their husbands, while she has none.
 * She does not regret having the child
 * Has dignity and strength, but it can only hold for so long against the spiteful women
 * She smiles at everyone, but no one smiles back.
 * She's caring and kind, but no one sees past the baby incident to really understand the kind of person she is.

Lee:
 * Francie took a speculative look at the Pennsylvania fellow standing ten feet away. He didn't look like much. No wonder the other three girls refused to help out Anita. Then his eyes met hers and he smiled a slow shy smile and somehow, while he wasn't good looking, he was nicer than good-looking. The shy smile decided Francie" (Smith 449).
 * Is a soldier in the U.S military who is leaving for duty
 * Was Francie's first love
 * Never had been out of his home state of Pennsylvania before
 * Left back to Pennsylvania to get married to a girl from his town without letting Francie know before they went out

Ben Blake:
 * "That was Ben Blake; well-dressed, gay, handsome, brilliant, sure to himself, well-liked by the boys, with all the girls crazy about him–and Francie Nolan tremulously in love with him" (Smith 433).
 * The boy Francie has a crush on during college summer classes
 * Wants to be a lawyer when he grows up
 * Gives Francie a promise ring, and states that he will marry her in five years
 * Reminds Francie of Lee, with both of them having the same shy smile
 * Wants to work in a Midwestern town, and be the main lawyer there

Mr. McShane:
 * "It was the first time Francie had seen McShane without his uniform. She decided that he looked very impressive in his expensively tailored double-breasted gray suit. Of course he wasn't as good-looking as Papa had been; he was taller and more massive. But he was handsome in his own way, decided Francie, even though his hair was gray. But gosh, he was awful old for mother. True, mother wasn't so young, either. She was going on thirty-five. Still that was much younger than fifty. Anyhow, no woman need be ashamed to have McShane for a husband. While he looked exactly what he was, a shrewd politician, his voice was gentle when he spoke" (Smith 466)
 * Local police officer in Brooklyn
 * becomes a politician to become governor
 * Had wife that passed away due to cancer and was unable to have kids
 * Comes from Ireland