Characters
Characters Discussed
Tom Bailey Aldrich
Tom Bailey Aldrich, the narrator, a banker’s son, mischievous, high-spirited, and adventurous. After his father’s death and Mrs. Aldrich’s move to New York, Tom is employed in his uncle’s counting house. Tom is a literary forerunner of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and other realistic boys in American fiction.
Captain Nutter
Captain Nutter, his hale and cheery grandfather.
Miss Abigail
Miss Abigail, the captain’s prim and strict sister who keeps house for him and abhors the odor of tobacco.
Kitty Collins
Kitty Collins, the Nutter maid, a young Irish woman deserted by her sailor husband, who finally returns to live with her in a seaside cottage.
Bill Conway
Bill Conway, Tom’s bullying enemy.
Seth Rodgers
Seth Rodgers, another enemy.
Sailor Ben
Sailor Ben, Tom’s friend and Kitty’s husband, who shows Tom and his friends how to fire the Trefethen cannon.
Phil Adams
Phil Adams, a school friend who teaches Tom how to fight.
Pepper Whitcomb
Pepper Whitcomb, a friend struck by Tom’s misdirected arrow in an amateur production of William Tell.
Binny Wallace
Binny Wallace, Tom’s friend who is drowned in the sinking of a drifting boat during a sea storm.
Mr. Grimshaw
Mr. Grimshaw, the boys’ teacher at the Temple Grammar School.
Charley Marden
Charley Marden, a schoolboy who almost strangles when a torpedo explodes in school.
Ezra Wingate
Ezra Wingate, a neighbor whose old stagecoach is burned by the boys in a bonfire and who realizes a handsome profit by collecting damages.
Mr. Meeks
Mr. Meeks, the shy druggist whom the Widow Conway is trying to catch for a husband.
Silas Trefethen
Silas Trefethen, an eccentric buyer of cannon for a war with England that never developed.
Nelly Glentworth
Nelly Glentworth, Captain Nutter’s young visitor, loved by Tom.
