Characters in Huckleberry Finn

Huckleberry Finn - The protagonist and narrator of the novel. Huck is the thirteen-year-old son of the local drunk of St. Petersburg, Missouri, a town on the Mississippi River. Frequently forced to survive on his own wits and always a bit of an outcast, Huck is thoughtful, intelligent (though formally uneducated), and willing to come to his own conclusions about important matters, even if these conclusions contradict society’s norms. Nevertheless, Huck is still a boy, and is influenced by others, particularly by his imaginative friend, Tom.

Tom Sawyer - Huck’s friend, and the protagonist of Tom Sawyer, the novel to which Huckleberry Finn is ostensibly the sequel. In Huckleberry Finn, Tom serves as a foil to Huck: imaginative, dominating, and given to wild plans taken from the plots of adventure novels, Tom is everything that Huck is not. Tom’s stubborn reliance on the “authorities” of romance novels leads him to acts of incredible stupidity and startling cruelty. His rigid adherence to society’s conventions aligns Tom with the “sivilizing” forces that Huck learns to see through and gradually abandons.

Widow Douglas and Miss Watson - Two wealthy sisters who live together in a large house in St. Petersburg and who adopt Huck. The gaunt and severe Miss Watson is the most prominent representative of the hypocritical religious and ethical values Twain criticizes in the novel. The Widow Douglas is somewhat gentler in her beliefs and has more patience with the mischievous Huck. When Huck acts in a manner contrary to societal expectations, it is the Widow Douglas whom he fears disappointing.

Jim - One of Miss Watson’s household slaves. Jim is superstitious and occasionally sentimental, but he is also intelligent, practical, and ultimately more of an adult than anyone else in the novel. Jim’s frequent acts of selflessness, his longing for his family, and his friendship with both Huck and Tom demonstrate to Huck that humanity has nothing to do with race. Because Jim is a black man and a runaway slave, he is at the mercy of almost all the other characters in the novel and is often forced into ridiculous and degrading situations.

Pap - Huck’s father, the town drunk and ne’er-do-well. Pap is a wreck when he appears at the beginning of the novel, with disgusting, ghostlike white skin and tattered clothes. The illiterate Pap disapproves of Huck’s education and beats him frequently. Pap represents both the general debasement of white society and the failure of family structures in the novel.

The duke and the dauphin - A pair of con men whom Huck and Jim rescue as they are being run out of a river town. The older man, who appears to be about seventy, claims to be the “dauphin,” the son of King Louis XVI and heir to the French throne. The younger man, who is about thirty, claims to be the usurped Duke of Bridgewater. Although Huck quickly realizes the men are frauds, he and Jim remain at their mercy, as Huck is only a child and Jim is a runaway slave. The duke and the dauphin carry out a number of increasingly disturbing swindles as they travel down the river on the raft.

Judge Thatcher - The local judge who shares responsibility for Huck with the Widow Douglas and is in charge of safeguarding the money that Huck and Tom found at the end of Tom Sawyer. When Huck discovers that Pap has returned to town, he wisely signs his fortune over to the Judge, who doesn’t really accept the money, but tries to comfort Huck. Judge Thatcher has a daughter, Becky, who was Tom’s girlfriend in Tom Sawyer and whom Huck calls “Bessie” in this novel.

The Grangerfords - A family that takes Huck in after a steamboat hits his raft, separating him from Jim. The kindhearted Grangerfords, who offer Huck a place to stay in their tacky country home, are locked in a long-standing feud with another local family, the Shepherdsons. Twain uses the two families to engage in some rollicking humor and to mock a overly romanticizes ideas about family honor. Ultimately, the families’ sensationalized feud gets many of them killed.

The Wilks family - At one point during their travels, the duke and the dauphin encounter a man who tells them of the death of a local named Peter Wilks, who has left behind a rich estate. The man inadvertently gives the con men enough information to allow them to pretend to be Wilks’s two brothers from England, who are the recipients of much of the inheritance. The duke and the dauphin’s subsequent conning of the good-hearted and vulnerable Wilks sisters is the first step in the con men’s increasingly cruel series of scams, which culminate in the sale of Jim.

Silas and Sally Phelps - Tom Sawyer’s aunt and uncle, whom Huck coincidentally encounters in his search for Jim after the con men have sold him. Sally is the sister of Tom’s aunt, Polly. Essentially good people, the Phelpses nevertheless hold Jim in custody and try to return him to his rightful owner. Silas and Sally are the unknowing victims of many of Tom and Huck’s “preparations” as they try to free Jim. The Phelpses are the only intact and functional family in this novel, yet they are too much for Huck, who longs to escape their “sivilizing” influence.

Aunt Polly - Tom Sawyer’s aunt and guardian and Sally Phelps’s sister. Aunt Polly appears at the end of the novel and properly identifies Huck, who has pretended to be Tom, and Tom, who has pretended to be his own younger brother, Sid.

Characters in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

Who are the Characters?

Mr. Willy Wonka - The eccentric owner of the Wonka chocolate factory. Mr.Wonka is the most renowned candy maker in the world and an endless combination of opposing parts. He is old but filled with a boundless energy. He is physically small, but his persona is larger than life. He is also both charming and insensitive. His decision to open his factory to five lucky children is actually a calculated ploy to find the perfect child to take over his factory. He is looking for a properly obsequious child to whom he can teach all the secrets of his factory. Charlie Bucket is that boy.

Charlie Bucket - The protagonist of the novel. Charlie is unassuming and respectful toward everyone in his life. He is undernourished but refuses to ever take an extra portion of food because it would deprive another member of his family. He must walk by Mr. Wonka’s factory every day on his way to school and smell the tantalizing smell of chocolate as his stomach grumbles. He is almost always cold because he does not have an adequate jacket. Even though he has every reason to complain, he never does. Charlie is exactly the kind of child that Mr. Wonka wants.


Grandpa Joe - Charlie’s paternal grandfather. Grandpa Joe spends all his time in bed with the other three Bucket grandparents. He is extremely imaginative and fun loving. He realizes a return of his childish energy when Charlie finds the golden ticket. He thinks Mr. Wonka’s idea to send out golden tickets is a marketing stroke of genius, and he continues to think Mr. Wonka is brilliant while the other parents think he is mad. Grandpa Joe is kind and loving and also sensible. He is Charlie’s greatest friend and confidant.


Augustus Gloop - A fat boy who loves nothing but eating. Augustus is rude and insubordinate in his never-ending quest to fill his own face. His parents choose to indulge him rather than listen to his whining. He suffers for his greed in the factory: while sucking from the chocolate river, he falls in and is sucked up by one of the super pipes. He comes out changed on the other side, as evidenced by his new thin body.

Veruca Salt - A spoiled brat. Veruca demands anything she wants and throws tantrums until her parents meet her demands. She is mean and completely self-involved, and her parents always acquiesce to her wishes. Veruca’s impetuousness causes her trouble at the factory. She demands to own one of Wonka’s trained squirrels, but when she marches in to claim it, it deems her a “bad nut” and sends her down the garbage chute. Mingled with garbage, she comes out changed at the end of the story.

Violet Beauregarde - An avid gum chewer. Violet’s attempt to beat a gum-chewing record completely consumes her. At the factory her gum-chewing antics become her downfall when she grabs an experimental piece of gum against Mr. Wonka’s advice. She eagerly chews the gum and turns into a giant blueberry. After being juiced by Oompa-Loompas, she leaves the factory changed.

Mike Teavee - A boy who cares only for television. The more guns and violence on a show, the more Mike likes it. Mike is slightly more complex than the other bad children in that he is smart enough to realize when Mr. Wonka is lying to him. Still, his attempts to get answers to his questions go completely unheeded. At the factory he wants nothing more than to check out the chocolate television room. Once there he spies the opportunity to be on television himself. Without regard for his own safety, he engineers a filming of himself and ends up shrinking down to a couple of inches. The Oompa-Loompas stretch him out to twice his normal height in the end.

The Oompa-Loompas - Fun-loving dwarves hailing from Loompaland. Mr. Wonka’s diminutive work force feasts on cacao beans and performs all of the work in the Wonka chocolate factory. They also enjoy dancing, beating drums, and singing songs about what happens to bad children.
Mr. Bucket - Charlie’s hard-working father. Mr. Bucket works tirelessly to provide for his family, which includes two sets of grandparents. In spite of his efforts, Mr. Bucket barely earns enough money for his family to survive.

Mrs. Bucket - Charlie’s mother. Mrs. Bucket worries constantly about her son. She unfailingly tries to give Charlie her portion of a meal, which he always refuses. She is extremely giving in her efforts to take care of the four invalided grandparents with whom she lives.

Grandma Josephine - Charlie’s paternal grandmother. Grandma Josephine, like her fellow grandparents, spends all her time in bed. She loves Charlie and is quick to judge others.
Grandpa George - Charlie’s maternal grandfather. Grandpa George is pessimistic and terse. He does not seem as judgmental as the grandmothers and clearly loves Charlie.
Grandma Georgina - Charlie’s maternal grandmother. She is the mirror image of Grandma Josephine. She too is very quick to judge others.

Mr. and Mrs. Gloop - Augustus’s parents. The Gloops are moronic and indulgent of their son’s overeating. Mrs. Gloop is proud of her son’s appetite and thinks it better that he eat than be a nuisance.
Mr. and Mrs. Salt - Veruca’s parents. Mr. and Mrs. Salt are at their daughter’s beck and call. Whenever she screams and cries they give in to her every demand. Mr. Salt goes so far as to divert his entire factory from shelling peanuts to shelling candy bars in order to get Veruca the golden ticket she demands.

Mr. and Mrs. Beauregarde - Violet’s parents. The Beauregardes are weak and ineffectual. They let their daughter talk back to them and ignore her insults.

Mr. and Mrs. Teavee - Mike’s parents. Mr. and Mrs. Teavee are hands-off parents. They allow the television to parent their son.

Messrs. Fickelgruber, Prodnose, and Slugworth - Wonka’s main competitors. Fickelgruber, Prodnose, and Slugworth each allegedly planted spies at the Wonka factory in order to steal Wonka’s candy-making secrets. The thefts put Mr. Wonka out of business for a long time. One day, Mr. Wonka’s factory mysteriously reopened, though no one has ever been seen going in or out since.