Philip Carey

At the beginning of the novel Philip Carey is a small child of five whose mother has just passed away. Philip is ripped from his home and everything familiar and taken to live in the childless home of his aunt and uncle. Philip is lonely in his new home and finds it difficult to amuse himself in a home where silence is valued above the laughter of a child. In this home, however, Philip develops a love of books he will carry with him throughout his life.

While still young Philip is sent to boarding school. Philip has a club foot and this deformity causes him a great deal of torture at school when the other kids begin to tease him because of his limp and his inability to keep up with them during physical activity. Philip is an outcast at the school and is not able...