Duncan Schaeffer Character Analysis

An old friend of Charlie’s from college. Duncan is one of the few people left in Paris that Charlie knows from his time living there. Unlike Charlie, however, Duncan doesn’t seem to have sobered up or matured at all since losing everything in the crash. Rather, he continues to drink and party. Although Charlie initially leaves his address for Duncan at the Ritz, he seems to change his mind about wanting to see Duncan after they run into each other and Charlie realizes that his old social group has become repellent to him. Charlie sees Duncan as a ghost from his past life, and therefore he politely turns down Duncan’s repeated invitations to go out together. When Duncan and Lorraine Quarrles show up drunk at Marion Peters’ house without an invitation, the intrusion disturbs Marion Peters so much that it causes her to change her mind about allowing Charlie to take Honoria back to Prague with him.