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The Narrator
The story’s unnamed nineteen-year-old male narrator, who goes out looking for fun in his mother’s car on the night of the story. The narrator describes himself as fashionably detached and cynical, and he enjoys the thought that he and his friends are “dangerous characters,” young men who are “bad,” but in a cool, rebellious way. The events of the story cause the narrator to question his self-perception and to redefine what it means to be a “bad character.”
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Digby
The narrator’s friend, one of two “dangerous characters” who go with him to Greasy Lake on the night of the story. Digby is home on break from Cornell. The narrator sees him as slick, cynical, and socially adept among other “bad” characters. Their prank that leads to the fight is Digby’s idea and involves humiliating a friend who, Digby thinks, is having sex with a girl in a car.
Jeff
The narrator’s friend, one of two “dangerous characters” who go with him to Greasy Lake on the night of the story. Jeff is a college student who contemplates dropping out to pursue some sort of artistic or entrepreneurial career. Like Digby, Jeff is at ease in a crowd of “bad” characters, drinking, dancing, and smoking marijuana, and cruising for fun during the break from school.
Bobbie
The story’s antagonist, whom the narrator calls “the bad greasy character,” and with whom the three friends accidentally start a fight. Bobbie is strong and adept enough in a fight that he holds his own against the narrator, Jeff, and Digby for a while—until the narrator hits him with a tire iron. He is also vindictive, attacking the narrator’s car in lieu of attacking the narrator and friends, who wisely hide.
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The Fox
Bobbie’s girlfriend, whom the narrator and his friends, in the adrenaline rush after the fight, intend to rape. The fox gets out of the car after seeing Bobbie fall senseless during the fight. The arrival of the two blonde guys prevents the rape, but when Bobbie regains consciousness, the fox’s panicked sobbing sets in action his retaliation against the narrator’s mother’s car.
The Blond Guys
Two young men, possibly fraternity brothers, who help destroy the narrator’s mother’s car after the fox tells them of the attempted rape. The two guys, who may or may not know Bobbie, show up at the lake and join Bobbie in trashing the car before realizing that they are at risk of retaliation or arrest. They leave right after Bobbie and the fox drive off.
Al
The owner of the abandoned motorcycle by the lake. Al, whose name readers learn late in the story from the girls who come to look for him, is dead, drowned by some accident in the lake. The body that bumps up against the narrator as he hides in the lake is Al’s.
The Girls
Two young women, likely in their twenties, who arrive at the lake at dawn to look for Al. The women, one of whom is named Sarah, are impaired after using some sort of drugs or alcohol and are dressed to party. They call for Al and, when they don’t see him, the unnamed woman asks the narrator and his friends if they know where he is. She offers the friends drugs and a chance to party, apparently unconcerned about the fact that Al is missing.
