Arab

Throughout the play, the Arab sits at the bar in Nick's saloon responding to the newspaper headlines with the comment, "No foundation. All the way down the line." At one point, he says a few more words about how he has left "the old country" and come to America to work hard and not beg. After listening to one of the Arab's brief monologues, Joe pronounces him, "in his own way, a prophet."

Blick

Blick is a thoroughly unpleasant man, a "strong man without strength—strong only among the weak." He works as a policeman with the city's vice squad and struts into Nick's bar as if he owns the place, threatening to shut it down if he catches any prostitutes there. When Blick comes back to Nick's bar in the evening and sees Kitty, he taunts her, provoking many of the bar's regulars to stand up...