Portnoy's Complaint | Teaching Key Figures

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

Alex Portnoy - This is the book's central character and its narrator.

Alex's Mother (Sophie) - This is the book's dominant female presence. As a home-maker she is portrayed as house proud, gossipy, domestically competitive, and subtly racist.

Alex's Father (Jake) - This character has inflicted his share of emotional and psychological harm. Physically absent for much of the main character's life and suffering from chronic constipation, he is seen as a failure.

Hannah and Morty - This character (and spouse) is portrayed as an overweight non-entity. The spouse is a...
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