As in his other novels, Reed's characters are symbols of the particular social ill on which he is commenting. There are a number of different story lines and characters to pursue those story lines. Ball, the central character of the novel, is a southerner — from the West Indies, not the southern United States — who is beholden to the materialism of the mid-1980s. The women, the gadgets, and the apartment are all a vital part of his life. So in order to become a successful, famous playwright, he is interested in getting his name off the feminists' "sex list." Ball writes Reckless Eyeballing, a play comprised mostly of women, as an attempt to placate the feminists. Ball is another in a long line of complicated Reed characters: He thinks one way and acts another and he struggles over whether to compromise his values for the money...