Alexander Vass is usually drunk or stoned or both. A hedonist, he is assigned roles that incline toward villainy, although he can be better understood along the lines of the Shakespearean fool, who tells the truth through jest. Although it would be a mistake to believe he does not work hard or take his assignments seriously, Alexander’s approach is often flip, even sarcastic, and he has little patience for outmoded traditions or norms. He does not understand, for example, why they must audition for each play, given how well the directors know them and their work. It is Alexander, too, who asks if it is really necessary to save Richard, who has been brutalizing them all. He likewise speaks an uncomfortable truth in Act 3, Scene 12, when he wonders when they became terrible people. Even though he says things that unsettle his classmates, Alexander survives his overdose thanks to the group’s quick reactions, an explicit inversion of their prior decision to allow a classmate in distress to die.  

Alexander is in a relationship with Colin Hyland, a third-year student, for much of the novel, although, few details are provided about their time together. Because Oliver is the narrator, this is not surprising, but it does leave much of Alexander’s character hidden. His hedonism finds further expression in his enthusiasm for sexual pleasure. He characterizes himself as “sexually amphibious,” a phrase that captures the fluidity of his desire but is complicated by the layered symbolism of the lake.