Felix Cobb

Felix Cobb ages throughout the novel, and he matures fast in a few short years due to a series of life altering events. The Felix Cobb at the beginning of the novel is not the same Felix at the end. In the beginning of the novel Felix is a youth attempting to negotiate a difficult and awkward transition from adolescence to adulthood. By the end of the novel Felix is battle-scarred and world-weary.

In the earlier parts of the novel set in England, Felix in many ways exhibits the stereotypical behavior of a teenager. He treats his younger nephew harshly in an effort to distance himself from the children, and when he enters the dining hall he carefully poses himself with one hand in a pocket and the other holding a cigarette at a planned and specified height. Felix is self-conscious and self-absorbed, full of teenage angst...