Henry Chinaski

The narrator and chief character in Factotum, Henry Chinaski is a classic antihero. He is green-eyed, the son of a workaholic veteran of World War I who is critical of his son's 4F status during World War II for psychological reasons, addicted to alcohol and sex, and has drunk his way through two years at Los Angeles City College while studying journalism. Before the action of the novel begins, Henry has left home and spent time in at least San Francisco and New York City. Everything he owns fits in a yellow cardboard suitcase, which he has painted black with shoe polish. He works when he must, flops in the cheapest places he can find, eats when he can, and drinks constantly. When he is down on his luck and has to drink port, he pictures movies in his head to fight revulsion at the taste. When...