Study Guide

Everything Is Illuminated Characters

By Jonathan Safran Foer

Alex is our narrator for most of the story. The letters to Jonathan and the chapters that sound...

Like his son and his grandson, Grandfather's name is Alex. Beside the name, though, these three...

Usually, when an author sticks himself in a book, he pretties himself up a bit, making himself...

Safran is Jonathan's grandfather and namesake. We first meet him in Chapter 16 ("The Dial,...

Yankel is Jonathan's spiritual ancestor and namesake. No, he isn't really Jonathan Yankel Foer,...

Brod is Jonathan's great-times-five-or-six grandmother, and the story Jonathan (the character)...

Shalom is from the village of Kolki, just like Alex's grandfather. Unlike Alex's grandfather,...

Not-Augustine is what we call the woman Alex thinks is Augustine, but turns out not to be. Clear...

The Gypsy girl (who is probably not named Cher—although who knows?) is the only woman...

Sammy Davis Junior, Junior is Grandpa's Seeing Eye b****, which is "not only for blind people but...

Let's do a quick census just to cover the rest of the named people of the Shtetl who have a minor...