The romantic adventurer depicted in Dan Lavette is a staple of popular fiction, the assertive, unconventional ethnic type whose brashness both shocks and represses conventional propriety. Dan, however, rises above the conventional portrait. No Stanley Kowalski, his assertion is tempered with warmhearted humanity and generosity. In contrast, the Seldons are the quintessential stuffy, conventional WASPs, a heritage Jean struggles to overcome. As is usual in Fast, primary characters share a quality of personal warmth and charisma despite their shortcomings. Moreover, they embody what is for Fast a mainstay — each character demonstrates contradictions which his actions reveal. In Dan Lavette, personal warmheartedness and impulsiveness appear in contrast to the things he must do to achieve and maintain his financial ascendancy; for Jean Seldon Lavette, a budding personal and sexual style emerges in contrast to her repressed, dull upbringing.

In his ethnic characters, Fast both contributes to and criticizes...