Wilhelm Adler or Tommy Wilhelm
The protagonist of the novella, Wilhelm is knee-deep in financial trouble. As a young man, he dropped out of college and went to Hollywood to be an actor, but failed to achieve this. Now in his forties, he has been let go from his job and is separated from his wife. He wants to marry his girlfriend, but his wife will not grant him the divorce. His father, Dr. Adler, lives in the same residential hotel as him, but Wilhelm finds no financial or emotional succor from him. Wilhelm knows he might have made some missteps, but he is also self-pitying, thinking he has been wronged by many. All of his attempts to improve his situation, including investing in the stock market, come to naught, and at the end of the novel he is utterly consumed by grief.
Dr. Adler
He is a retired doctor and the father of Wilhelm. He is a well-to-do and natty old man, comfortably living out his life as a widower and retiree in a hotel. He is disappointed with his two children who failed to make a life for themselves in a way that he approves. Dr. Adler keeps telling Wilhelm to turn his life around and scolds him for his failures and slovenliness. He strictly refuses to assist his children financially.
Dr. Tamkin
Tamkin is a supposed psychologist, psychiatrist, inventor, hypnotist, etc. He is Wilhelm's broker, investing his funds in lard and rye, but he turns out to be a fraud. Tamkin is full of philosophical musings and assertions and lobs them frequently at Wilhelm. Wilhelm cannot decide whether or not to believe him, but ends up trusting him and invests his last penny in the stock market on Tamkin's advice.
Maurice Venice
He is a talent scout who sees Wilhelm's picture in a college paper and encourages him to sign up with him. He is "huge and oxlike" with a "healthy complexion" (14); though very fat, he is grandly, if messily, dressed. He tells Wilhelm he can become famous and brags of his other talent, but when Wilhelm's screen test comes back, he is unimpressed and drops him. Wilhelm learns Venice was actually not at all respected and had a ring of call girls in Hollywood.
Margaret
She is Wilhelm's wife whom he leaves and wants to divorce. Margaret refuses to divorce him, though, and keeps demanding more money to raise their two boys. She has no sympathy for Wilhelm and his financial woes, a situation that he finds cruel.
Catharine
Wilhelm’s sister in her forties, she is an aspiring artist still wishing for financial assistance from her father. According to her father, though, she is no good at painting and hence he is angered by such demands.
Rubin
The man who runs the Hotel Gloriana newsstand, he has bad eyes but is always well-dressed. He knows everyone's business and everyone knows his.
Mr. Perls
A German friend of Dr. Adler's who lives in the building, he has "widely spaced gray eyes" and carries a "heavy cane with a crutch tip" (28). His teeth are bad and Wilhelm finds him "frazzle-faced" (28). He works as a hosiery wholesaler and, in Wilhelm's opinion, is too concerned with money.
Mr. Rappaport
He is a well-to-do but wizened, elderly man at the brokerage. Tamkin fills Wilhelm's ears with stories of how Rappaport had two families and did whatever he wanted without being bogged down by dependents. He makes his money in the chicken industry. Nearly blind, he is a veteran of the Spanish American War and idolizes Theodore Roosevelt.
Mr. Rowland
An old man at the brokerage, he is a bachelor and retired, and speculates on the market for leisure.
Olivia
Wilhelm's current girlfriend, she is Catholic and finds it distressing to be sleeping with a married man, and encourages Wilhelm to get divorced.
