Because The Ginger Man is a picaresque novel, readers' visions of the supporting characters are inevitably affected by their impression of the protagonist, Sebastian Dangerfield. If the hero is seen as an existential anarchist, his victims will probably be seen as deserving their fate because they embrace shopworn ideas and values. If on the other hand one views the protagonist as hypocritical and violent, the supporting characters will be seen compassionately. Although the text permits either impression of Dangerfield, the one more consistent with Donleavy's intentions has him as a liberated hero flying in the face of stale convention and dull propriety.

In any case, Dangerfield's four sexual partners in the novel provide a tetralogue on hedonistic and committed sexual relationships. His wife Marion, whom Sebastian recalls as a British beauty, expresses typical bourgeois values about wealth, comfort, and respectability. Coming from an influential family and marrying Sebastian...