Bonfire Of The Vanities Character List Flashcards
Mrs. Annie Lamb
Henry Lamb’s mom, who used to work for Reverend Bacon.
Thomas Killian
Extremely slick, well-dressed, and fast-talking criminal defense lawyer for Sherman McCoy. He formerly worked in the District Attorney’s office, but went into private practice to make money. His clients include the worst kind of rich criminals, including racketeers and drug dealers. A native Irish New Yorker, he attempts to redeem favors owed him by people in the criminal justice to shield his clients.
Note how the people he defends are like how Sherman is made to be by the press, but is not so in real life.
Reverend Bacon
A Harlem minister who wields great power within his African-American community. He is the head of several shell or dummy organizations and corporations, through which he practices extortion and fraudulently obtains monetary donations. He, like Abe Weiss, is a master manipulator of the press. He takes up the McCoy case as a means ti attack the white power structure of Manhatten. Bacon’s name is a direct attack on the “pork-barrel” money he extorts from the white establishment.
Note: funny how Henry’s mom used to work for him, as she also did stuff to manipulate the press in the Sherman vs. Henry case.
Quigly
The investigator employed by Thomas Killian on the McCoy case.
Maria Ruskin
Sherman McCoy’s mistress. She is a work-class girl from South Carolina who has used her attractiveness to marry well. Her husband is the extremely wealthy and aged Arthur Ruskin.
Sherman McCoy
Wall Street golden boy, scion of old W.A.S.P. money, and self-described “Master of the Universe”, Sherman has it all. His education, his mistress Maria Ruskin, his social circle: all are elite. He is also clearly prejudiced along ethnic, religious, social, economic, gender, and racial lines.
Note: The last line may explain why he thought he was being robbed: economic and racial prejudices.
Celeste McCoy
Sherman’s aristocratic mother.
John Cambell McCoy
Sherman McCoy’s aging father. The former “lion” general partner of the law firm Dunning, Sponget, and Leach.
Cambell McCoy
Sherman and Judy’s six-year-old daughter
Judy McCoy
Sherman’s wife—two years his senior. She has become the “social x-ray” style of a Park Avenue wife. As soon as she knows the possibility of Sherman’s affair, she withdraws all affection.
Abe Weiss
Jewish District Attorney for the borough of the Bronx. He is constantly angling for re-election, which nears as the novel begins. He is an excellent manipulator of the press, and cares far more about voter opinion than justice. He has the gall, however, to pretend otherwise and to assume an idealistic tone with some of his employees.
Larry Kramer
One of Abe Weiss’ assistant district attorneys. Weiss directs him in the McCoy case. His ultimate goals appear to be the advancement of his legal career and sexual conquests with women, not necessarily in that order. He is uneasy about his Jewish heritage and resists the responsibilities of family life.
Henry Lamb
The hit-and-run victim in the Sherman McCoy case. A high school student living in a housing project in the Bronx, he has managed to keep himself out of trouble and to stay in school. By the standards of his neighborhood, this makes him an honor student.
Peter Fallow
An alcoholic, plagiarizing, sponging layabout reporter from The City Light who breaks the Lamb case when Al Vogel feeds him information. He is British, and despises all things American. His first name, Peter, may be a broad hint to his crying “wolf” about the “Lamb” case (get it?). His coverage of the McCoy case wins him a Pulitzer Prize.
Rhoda Kramer
Larry Kramer’s wife.
