Characters

[Lily]

Use this thread for comments on the characters in our current reading selection. Attempt to avoid descriptions that will spoil the plot line, or use <.spoiler.> and without the periods to surround the comment. Indicate when, in reading, it becomes "safe" to read the hidden information.

[Lily]

I'll start this list tonight and continue to edit it over the next several days. Feel free to add other posts in the meantime, but expect this one to change.

Chapter 1: Bebek (3 - 63)

Leon Bauer -- expatriate American businessman
Anna Bauer -- Leon's wife
Mihai
Tommy King-- works at American embassy
Barbara King -- Tommy's wife
Dr. Obstbaum -- Anna's physician
Georg Ritter -- professor, Marxist, long time friend of Leon and Anna
Ed Burke
Marina
John/Alexei
Mehmet -- Waiter/bartender? at the Park

[Janet]

Marina - mistress of Leon's
Tommy King - Leon's employer
Leon is conflicted on many levels. He loves his wife, but he needs both a sexual and a supportive spouse relationships that Anna cannot provide in her current state of severe depression.
Leon is conflicted on his roles as a tobacco company representative and as a part-time spy courier. He is conflicted with his role in aiding the escape of Jews from Europe and to Palestine. What is moral and what is expedient? When do the ends justify the means or do they ever? What happens when good intentions end in disaster?

[Lily]

Janet wrote: "What is moral and what is expedient? When do the ends justify the means or do they ever? What happens when good intentions end in disaster? ..."

Thanks, Janet. Great questions!