Bildad

Bildad is one of the three comforters who come to reassure J. B. in scene 9, after J. B. has lost everything. Spouting jargon-filled clichés, Bildad explains J. B.'s suffering from a Marxist viewpoint, posing an economic answer to J. B.'s problems. J. B. should not wallow in guilt, he claims, because "Guilt is a sociological accident."

David

Thirteen years old at the start of the play, David is the oldest son of J. B. and Sarah. As a young man, David becomes a soldier. He survives the war only to be accidentally killed by his own comrades before he can return home.

Distant Voice

At two points in the play, while Zuss and Nickles are arguing in their roles as God and Satan, another voice from offstage is heard speaking lines attributed to God in the King James Bible. In the list of characters...