- Ahmad Ashmawy Mulloy
- An 18-year-old radical Islamist who seeks jihad and to follow the "Straight Path." After taking vocational courses in high school (despite being intelligent enough to get into university), Ahmad is hired as a truck driver for Excellency Home Furnishings. He is coerced by his mentor and friend Charlie Chehab into driving a truck and detonating a massive explosive in the name of Allah.
- Joryleen Grant
- A kindhearted African American classmate of Ahmad's. Ahmad is attracted to her, but initially resists her advances as he sees her as an unclean infidel. After high school she becomes a prostitute to support her shiftless boyfriend.
- Tylenol Jones
- Joryleen's African American boyfriend who resents Ahmad's interest in Joryleen and bullies him.
- Teresa Mulloy
- Ahmad's secular, liberal mother whose laissez-faire parenting style has allowed her son's blinding religious fanaticism to fester inside him and eventually erupt. Teresa has an affair with Jack Levy that lasts roughly three months.
- Jack Levy
- A guidance counselor at New Prospect High School who strives to get Ahmad enrolled in community college. Levy represents the typical Updikian character of a middle-class American who futilely attempts to escape his mundane prison of daily life, partly through sexual encounters.
- Beth Levy
- Jack's overweight wife who when she is not working as a part-time librarian spends her afternoons watching soap opera and eating cookies. She has become a constant reminder of Jack's own mediocrity.
- Charlie Chehab
- Ahmad's partner at Excellency Home Furnishings who recruits him for a bombing plot.
- Shaikh Rashid
- Ahmad's imam and mentor. He secures him the job at Excellency and manipulates him into assisting in a bombing plot.
- Hermione Fogel
- Beth's sister who works as an assistant to the director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
This content is from Wikipedia. GradeSaver is providing this content as a courtesy until we can offer a professionally written study guide by one of our staff editors. We do not consider this content professional or citable. Please use your discretion when relying on it.
