The main character of the novel, Charles Strickland, is a prosperous stockbroker. At the beginning of the book the reader sees him through the eyes of a young writer, the narrator of the novel: a very dull, quiet man, not in the least interested in literature or the arts(34), a typical broker. Then he was a man of forty, not good-looking, and yet not ugly, for his features were rather good, but they were all a little larger than life-size and the effect was ungainly. He was broad and heavy, with large hands and feet, and he wore his evening clothes clumsily. He was clean shaven, and hi large face looked uncomfortably naked. His hair was reddish, cut very short, and his eyes were small, blue or grey. He looked commonplace. (38) he had no social gifts, he had no eccentricity, he was just a good, dull, honest, plain man. He was null. He was probably a worthy member of society, a good husband and father, an honest broker, but there was no reason to waste one's time over him. (39) It was an average family in the middle class - a rather dull man, doing his duty in that state of life in which a merciful Providence had placed him. (41).
The rest of the book shows how wrong the narrator's first impression was and the reader' s attitude towards Strickland's character changes as the novel progresses. When the author meets him for the second time in a small room of a dark airless hotel, Strickland looked ill at ease, untidy and kept, he looked perfectly at home there. (56), he made replies to the narrator's questions with callousness and scorn. Some vehement power was struggling within him and it gave the sensation of something very strong and overmastering that held him almost against his will. He seemed to be possessed of a devil. Yet he looked ordinary enough. He was sitting in his unbrushed bowler, his trousers were baggy, his hands were not clean, his unshaved face was uncouth and coarse. Strickland was not a fluent talker, he expressed himself with difficulty, using hackneyed phrases, slang and vague, unfinished gestures.