Meet the Cast
Maggie Johnson
Maggie the Naïf Maggie is a sad sack, and we're clued into this from the get-go. How's that? Well, we know from the book's title that Maggie is the protagonist, but we don't meet her right away. I...
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie the Fist Jimmie is our introduction to the novel. It is not a pretty picture, either: We open with him defending the honor of Rum Alley: His coat had been torn to shreds in a scuffle, and hi...
Pete
My Hero…Pete's a rescuer from the get-go: He saves Jimmie from the other street urchins, and then continues in this savior role later on when he represents the promise of a better life for poor,...
Mary Johnson a.k.a. Mom
Is that Mary the life of the party, or what? She goes through life boozing and busting things, and when she isn't perpetrating violence against her own children, she's badmouthing them to anyone wh...
Minor Characters
Nellie She may be a woman of "brilliance and audacity" (18.19) who steals her old flame, Pete, away from Maggie, but Nellie's no exception to the sad economic and social realities of the novel. She...