The Assistant Characters

The protagonist of The Assistant, Frank Alpine is a young Italian man who's come east to Brooklyn, New York, in the hopes of making something of his life:All my life I wanted to accomplish somethin...

A quietly tragic figure, Morris Bober emigrated to the United States from Russia, narrowly avoiding service in the military and death trying to escape. He is a Jew, a grocer, a husband, a father; a...

The adult daughter of Morris and Ida Bober, Helen has put off her college education and dreams for the future in order to work a secretarial job. (Don't worry—we're rolling our eyes too.) The lit...

Al sells Morris paper bags. He's a well-dressed man of forty-six, but he suffers from cancer and it shows. He was supposed to have died already, but Al keeps working and keeps moving, like the Ener...

Helen's friend and Nat's sister, Betsy doesn't share Helen's interest in college or books. She and Helen grow apart as the story progresses.

A light bulb seller, Breitbart is a fellow Jew who stops into Morris's store for hot tea and to read the Jewish paper. He's a man of few words, but Morris can tell that he suffers. Breitbart, like...

The police officer assigned to investigate the robbery in Morris's store, Detective Minogue is a hard man, sometimes ruthless and brutal. He's trying to track down his son, Ward, a petty criminal....

Ida is the wife of Morris and the mother of Helen. She loves Morris, but regrets marrying him. She's faithful, but upset and disappointed that their lives have not turned out very well. She worries...

Of the older generation of Jews in the neighborhood, Julius seems to have had the best luck. He used to be poor but found fortune after Prohibition ended. He obtained a liquor license and converted...

Louis is a superficial young man who plans on benefiting from the success of his father rather than making his own way in the world. He likes Helen, but not her deep philosophy. When she rejects hi...

Nat is a young, ambitious law student and the son of the candy store owner Sam Pearl. Ida would love for Helen to marry him, as he shows promise of a bright future, but Nat's interest in Helen does...

Nick and Tessie rent space in the Bober house. They're a young married couple with a baby on the way. Nick has taken to buying groceries from Morris's competitor, without being seen if he can. Tess...

A young refuge, Podolsky shows some interest in buying the store from Morris, but it never pans out.

Sam and Goldie are the parents of Nat and Betsy. They run a candy store in the neighborhood and were among the few Jewish families to move into mostly gentile neighborhood. They seem to be doing okay.

Hateful, sick, and exhausted, Ward has returned to the neighborhood. He spends his time playing pool, avoiding his abusing father, a police officer, and plotting crimes against local Jews. See the...