Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Jim Nolan

Though Jim has a coldness about him that frightens even Mac, it's hard not to sympathize with him and his bleak, bleak past. In many ways, In Dubious Battle is a coming-of-age story about Jim, as he gains a social conscience and wider experience of the world. When he's finally destroyed, we can't help but feel a loss—even though we know that his death doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.