A Beautiful Mind

by

Sylvia Nasar

Donald J. Newman (D.J.) Character Analysis

Newman is a Harvard graduate student who befriends some mathematicians at MIT in early 1950s, including John Nash. He is considered a “genius and is “a big, brash, blond swaggerer” who becomes “friendly friends” with Nash and helps to draw him into a tight social circle of mathematicians. Nash makes sexual advances on Newman, who laughs them off; Newman is one of Nash’s first friends to realize that Nash might be attracted to men.
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Donald J. Newman (D.J.) Character Timeline in A Beautiful Mind

The timeline below shows where the character Donald J. Newman (D.J.) appears in A Beautiful Mind. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 17 – Bad Boys
Genius, Morality, and Relationships Theme Icon
...at MIT and “a bad boy, but a great one.” Nash’s “closest equal” is D.J. Newman, also considered a genius with a flair for the eccentric: “a big, brash, blond swaggerer.”... (full context)
Chapter 24 – Jack
Love, Desire, and the Impact of Hidden Lives Theme Icon
...common room. Bricker is a first-year graduate student from New York who is friends with Newman and others, and he is immediately taken with Nash—not only because of his intellect, but... (full context)