Characters from I Know This Much Is True

Character Descriptions

This section provides a short description of all the major characters in the book. This can be printed out as a study guide for students, used as a "key" for leading a class discussion, or you can jump to the quiz/homework section to find worksheets that incorporate these descriptions into a variety of question formats.

Characters

Dominick Birdsey (b. 1950) - The novel's angst-filled narrator, this person is a high school teacher turned house painter, who candidly describes himself as a son of a bitch. The novel describes his lifelong struggle to deal with his mother's clear preference for his identical twin.

Thomas Joseph Birdsey (1949-92) - The narrator's identical twin, born six minutes before, on New Years Eve, December 31, 1949. He is a paranoid schizophrenic, having lived on-and-off for twenty years in the Three Rivers State Hospital.

Domenico Onofrio Tempesta (1880-1949) - Seen only through his...
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