Williston ("Will") Bibb Barrett

Will Barrett is the principle protagonist of the novel and the focus of nearly two-thirds of the scenes described in the narrative. He additionally appears in many of the scenes not directly focused on his character. At the time of the novel, Will turns fifty-five years old, and spends his birthday asleep in the back seat of his car in a public parking lot.

Will was raised in the South and his mother apparently died when he was young, though the details of her death are not described in the novel. Will's father was an emotional and opinionated man who served as a combatant in the European theater during World War II. Although not stated in the novel, Will would have therefore been about nineteen - draft age - when his father was serving in the conflict; Will did not serve in the...