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Thelonious “Monk” Ellison
Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is Erasure’s protagonist and narrator. He is a professor of English and a writer who has published several well-received novels, though he struggles to achieve much commercial success in an industry…
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Stagg R. Leigh
Stagg R. Leigh is the pseudonym under which Monk pens My Pafology, which he later retitles Fuck. Ashamed at the thought of others deeming him a sell-out, Monk decides to play the part…
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Mother
Monk’s mother lives in Washington, D.C., in the house she raised her children in. Her husband—Monk’s father—died seven years before the novel’s present. Mother displays early signs of Alzheimer’s disease that worsen…
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Lorraine
Lorraine is the Ellison family’s longtime housekeeper—she’s worked for the family since before Monk was born. Although Monk knows he must move Mother into a care facility due to her worsening Alzheimer’s symptoms, he feels…
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Lisa
Lisa is Monk’s sister. She’s a doctor at a clinic that provides reproductive healthcare—including abortions—to underprivileged women. As the only sibling still living in D.C., Lisa is forced to manage Mother’s care and…
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Bill
Bill is Monk’s brother. He lives in Arizona and works as a plastic surgeon. In the novel’s present, Bill is in the middle of a messy divorce, the consequence of his wife finding out…
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Father
Monk’s father, Benjamin Ellison, was a doctor who died several years before the novel’s present. Father held his children to high standards. Though Lisa, Bill, and Monk all grew up to have…
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Kenya Dunston
Kenya Dunston is a talk show host who has Juanita Mae Jenkins on her show to sing the praises of Jenkins’s new novel. She later has Monk (as Stagg R. Leigh) on the show…
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Juanita Mae Jenkins
Juanita Mae Jenkins is a Black author whose debut novel, We’s Lives In Da Ghetto, receives glowing praise from critics and mainstream audiences alike—and immense critical success. Monk loathes the book, Jenkins, and authors…
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Yul
Yul is Monk’s agent. He is perpetually the bearer of bad news for Monk, whose complex, experimental style of writing is of little interest to major publishing houses or the readership they cater to…
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Marilyn Tilman
Marilyn Tilman is a woman who lives in Annapolis, Maryland, where the Ellisons own a beach house. Monk meets her when he, Mother, and Lorraine are in town for a final vacation before it’s…
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Gretchen
Gretchen is Monk’s half-sister. She is the daughter of Fiona, a woman whom Monk’s father had an affair with while serving overseas. Monk’s father lost contact with Fiona and Gretchen after Fiona broke…
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Maynard
Maynard is an older man who works as a guard in the town where the Ellisons own a summer house. He reconnects with Lorraine when she, Monk, and Mother spend a few weeks at…
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Wiley Morgenstein
Wiley Morgenstein is a Hollywood producer who meets with Monk (as Stagg R. Leigh) to discuss plans for a film adaptation of My Pafology/Fuck. Morgenstein is caught off guard when “Stagg” comes off…
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Tamika Jones
Tamika Jones is a young Black mother whom Monk chats with in the waiting room of Lisa’s clinic. They start chatting about literature after Tamika overhears that Monk is a novelist. Tamika’s insight surprises…
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Van Go Jenkins
Van Go Jenkins—who typically goes by Go—is a young Black man who lives in poverty in Los Angeles. He is the protagonist of My Pafology, the novella Monk writes under the pseudonym Stagg R.…
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Penelope Dalton
Penelope Dalton is a character in My Pafology. She is the daughter of Mr. Dalton, a rich Black whom Go briefly works for. Penelope is the epitome of a spoiled rich kid—she spends…
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Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama)
In My Pafology, Clareece Jenkins (“Mama”) is Van Go’s mother. A single mother, she struggles to provide her children with a good life despite their poverty. She worries that her son is headed…
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Cleona
In My Pafology, Cleona is a young woman whom Go has a child with. She and his other “baby mamas” confront Go on the Snookie Cane Show about Go’s failure to pay child support…
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Snookie Cane
Snookie Cane, a talk show host, is a character in My Pafology. Monk seems to have loosely modeled her after real-life talk show host Kenya Dunston, on whose show Monk (as Stagg R.…
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Mr. Dalton
Mr. Dalton is a character in My Pafology. He is a wealthy Black man who Go briefly works for as a favor from Go’s mother’s friend Lois, who works as Mr. Dalton’s…
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Lois
In My Pafology, Lois is Mr. Dalton’s housekeeper. She’s a good friend of Mama and puts in a good word for Go to do work around Mr. Dalton’s house. She is protective of…
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Korean Man
The Korean man owns a convenience store in Los Angeles. Go claims the man wrongfully accused him of stealing. After Go gets his hands on a gun, he heads to the Korean man’s store with…
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Roger
In My Pafology, Roger is Penelope’s apparent friend or romantic partner. As Go drives Roger and Penelope around Los Angeles, the couple mocks Go for his poverty, belittling him and undermining his humanity…
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Tom Wahzetepe
Tom Wahzetepe is a character in one of Monk’s short stories. In the story, he is invited to compete on a trivia game show alongside Hal Dullard, a white man from Indiana who…
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Jack Spades
Jack Spades is a character in one of Monk’s short stories. He hosts a trivia game show on which a white man (Hall Dullard) and Black man (Tom Wahzetepe) take…
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Hal Dullard
Hal Dullard is a character in one of Monk’s short stories. He’s a white man and all-around upstanding citizen from Indiana who is also (as his name suggests) remarkably stupid. In the story, Hal…
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Minor Characters
Paula Baderman
Paula Baderman is a senior editor at Random House. Much to Monk’s horror, she and her colleagues sing My Pafology’s praises, declaring the novel “magnificently raw and honest” and promising Monk (as Stagg R. Leigh) $600,000 in advance payments for the manuscript.
Fiona
Fiona is a white woman whom Monk’s father (Benjamin Ellison) had an affair with while serving overseas in Korea. Monk only learns of her existence—and that she and his father had a child together, Gretchen—when he stumbles upon some old love letters after moving back in with Mother.
Linda Mallory
Linda Mallory is a writer and professor whom Monk has had sex with in the past. She calls to solicit him for sex a few times throughout the book, though he usually turns her down.
Wilson Harnet
Wilson Harnet is the chair of the committee selected to judge the submissions for The Book Award. He wrote a book about his wife’s cancer diagnosis. She ended up not dying, though, and divorced him for sharing all their secrets in his book.
Ailene Hoover
Ailene Hoover is an author who has published several critically acclaimed books. She serves on the committee selected to judge the submissions for The Book Award.
Thomas Tomad
Thomas Tomad is an author who serves on the committee selected to judge the submissions for The Book Award. He is also an editor at a publishing house that specializes in the books of incarcerated people serving life sentences.
Jon Paul Sigmarsen
Jon Paul Sigmarsen is an author who hosts a PBS show in Minnesota. He serves on the committee selected to judge the submissions for The Book Award.
Davis Gimbel
Davis Gimbel is a writer who attends the conference alongside Monk. He detests Monk and heckles him after Monk finishes his reading at a conference they both attend, declaring Monk a “mimetic hack.”
Cynthia
Cynthia is Wiley Morgenstein’s “assistant,” though when Monk (as Stagg R. Leigh) meets with them to discuss plans for a film adaptation of My Pafology/Fuck, Monk insinuates that she is more likely Morgenstein’s mistress.
The Skinhead
The skinhead is a relative of Fiona and her daughter Gretchen. He directs Monk to Gretchen’s home—but only after Monk offers to pay him.
Clevon
Clevon is a man Marilyn used to date. The couple is in the process of breaking up when Monk enters Marilyn’s life.
Yvonne
Yvonne is a receptionist at Lisa’s clinic in Washington, D.C.
Willy the Wonker
In My Pafology, Willy the Wonker (alternatively called “Willy the wino”) is a disheveled alcoholic who roams the streets and antagonizes Go, making crass remarks about Go’s mother and insinuating that he is Go’s father. He alternatively belittles Go and urges him to be better.
Tyrell/Jeep
In My Pafology, Tyrell is a “pretty,” rich Black guy whom Cleona is seeing. Go also refers to him derisively as “Jeep” (paired with a racial slur), referencing the vehicle he drives. Go gets into several altercations with Jeep throughout My Pafology.
Yellow
Yellow is one of Go’s friends in My Pafology. He and Go repeatedly get into inane arguments that typically end with each shouting expletives back and forth at the other.
Tito
Tito is one of Go’s friends in My Pafology. He runs with a rough crowd, and Mama, worried about her son, warns Go to stop spending time with him.
Sharinda
In My Pafology, Sharinda is a woman with whom Go has a child. She and his other “baby mamas” confront Go on Snookie Cane’s show about Go’s failure to pay child support.
Robertarina
In My Pafology, Robertarina is a woman whom Go has a child with. She and his other “baby mamas” confront Go on The Snookie Cane Show about Go’s failure to pay child support.
Reynisha
In My Pafology, Reynisha is a woman whom Go has a child with. She and his other “baby mamas” confront Go on The Snookie Cane Show about Go’s failure to pay child support.
Tardreece/Baby Girl
Tardreece is Van Go Jenkins’s sister in My Pafology.
Rexall
In My Pafology, Rexall is Van Go’s child with Cleona. He has (as Go calls it) “Down sinder” (Downs syndrome).
