Captain Molloy

Captain Molloy is one of the primary characters in the novel, and acts in many ways as its antihero. A Brevet Captain in the Union Army during the Civil War, he lost his rank and returned to Lieutenant afterwards. Molloy began drinking heavily in the aftermath of the war in order to forget many of the memories he now carries, including an instance wherein he shot and killed a small boy wielding a rifle who was protecting his mother from the encroaching Union Army. Haunted by this and other memories, Molloy descends further into alcoholism and despair throughout the novel, eventually concluding that life is meaningless and vowing not to let more violence happen on his behalf.

Molloy is of Irish descent, specifically from Galway. He is capable of speaking Gaelic which he does with Michael O'Driscoll on multiple occasions. Molloy is intelligent and introspective to a...