Samuel

Samuel is the novel’s central character, its protagonist and narrator. There are only a few references to what are generally regarded as important aspects of identity – the reader understands that he is a husband and a father, and that he is Jewish, but there are few, if any, references to age, to occupation, to educational background, or to family background. This creates the sense that for Samuel and in terms of the story he is telling, there is really no point to considering or commenting on his life before the language plague. The only thing that seems to matter is what existed for him as the plague began, as it deepened, and as it changed his life.

Those changes range from basic changes to his living situation (in that he is essentially exiled from his home and drawn to a life of isolation and hard work in...