Jimmy Rabbitte, Sr.

Jimmy Rabbitte is the main character of the novel. Except in conversation, he is always referred to as Jimmy Sr. At the beginning of the story, Jimmy Sr., a plasterer by trade, is out of work and spends his days kind of drifting from one idle activity to another. He has a couple of libraries that he visits, not so much to take books out—he is not much of a reader—but to pass the time. The Rabbitte house is so filled with people that Jimmy Sr. sometimes finds himself sitting outside on the front steps just to have a place to sit down. We're told that he does quite a number of things to improve the house and yard, but the story begins a few weeks before Christmas and the weather doesn't permit outside work.

Jimmy Sr.'s best pal and neighbor...