Running in the Family Character Analysis

Michael Ondaatje

Michael Ondaatje is the author and narrator of the memoir. Ondaatje is born in Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka) to Doris and Mervyn, but leaves the country with his mother when he is 11 years… read analysis of Michael Ondaatje

Mervyn Ondaatje

Mervyn is the father of Michael Ondaatje, Gillian, and Ondaatje’s other siblings, and is Doris’s husband for 14 years. Mervyn is born to a wealthy, respectable upper-class family in Ceylon. However, despite… read analysis of Mervyn Ondaatje

Doris Gratiaen

Doris is the mother of Ondaatje, Gillian, and Ondaatje’s other siblings. She is Mervyn’s first wife. Like Mervyn, Doris is born to a wealthy upper-class family in Ceylon. As a young woman… read analysis of Doris Gratiaen

Lalla Gratiaen

Lalla is Ondaatje’s maternal grandmother and Doris’s mother, though they have a strained relationship and never speak. When Lalla’s husband, Willie, dies, Lalla becomes a larger-than-life figure, single-handedly running a dairy farm… read analysis of Lalla Gratiaen

Aunt Phyllis

Aunt Phyllis is Ondaatje’s aunt, whom he visits with Gillian. Aunt Phyllis was close to Mervyn’s and spends days sharing memories and family history with Ondaatje. She often tells a story, moves… read analysis of Aunt Phyllis

Francis de Saram

Francis de Saram is one of Mervyn and Doris’s friends in the 1920s and 1930s. Francis is the first to drink himself to death in 1935, drowning himself in 12 inches of water. His… read analysis of Francis de Saram

Susan

Susan is Ondaatje’s half-sister and Mervyn’s stepdaughter from his second marriage to Maureen. Ondaatje visits with Susan during his time in Ceylon. Compared to the children in Mervyn’s first family, Susan and… read analysis of Susan

Archer Jayawardene

Archer is one of Mervyn’s closest friends in his later years, and often visits Mervyn when he is in the depths of his depression. In the year that he dies, Mervyn tells Archer and… read analysis of Archer Jayawardene

Philip Ondaatje

Philip is Ondaatje’s paternal grandfather and Mervyn’s father. Philip is studious and aloof, and amasses a fortune through real estate deals. He uses his money to build the family estate at Rock Hill… read analysis of Philip Ondaatje

Minor Characters

Gillian

Gillian is Ondaatje’s sister and closest sibling, who accompanies him on much of his travel’s through Ceylon. Although Gillian is often listed as being present, like Ondaatje she is mostly invisible throughout the narrative, since it focuses almost entirely on past generations.

Rene de Saram

Rene de Saram is Lalla’s neighbor and friend. Rene’s husband commits suicide not long after Willie dies, and she and Lalla bond over their shared experience of being widowed mothers. Rene also owns a dairy farm, and joins Lalla in many of her antics while they are middle-aged.

Sir John Kotelawala

Sir John is an officer in the Ceylon Light Infantry who serves alongside Mervyn, though he outlives Mervyn and eventually becomes the prime minister.

Jennifer

Jennifer is Ondaatje’s half-sister and Mervyn’s stepdaughter from his second marriage to Maureen. Compared to the children in Mervyn’s first family, Jennifer and her sister Susan remember Mervyn as a good father, and Jennifer surmises that she was the closest with Mervyn of any of his children.

Noel Gratiaen

Noel is Ondaatje’s uncle, Mervyn’s friend and Doris’s brother. Like Doris, Noel detests his mother Lalla. Although Noel parties with Mervyn in his youth, he emerges from the 1920s and 1930s intact, and goes on to become a lawyer.

V.C. de Silva

V.C. de Silva is a doctor and one of Mervyn’s closest friends in his later years. After Doris leaves Mervyn in 1947, de Silva moves in with Mervyn to keep him company. As Mervyn sinks further into depression, de Silva often sits with him.

Aelian Ondaatje

Aelian is Mervyn’s uncle and Philip’s brother. Aelian is good-natured and generous compared to Philip’s aloofness.

Maureen

Maureen is Jennifer and Susan’s mother and Mervyn’s second wife, who is married to him until he dies.

Aunt Dolly

Aunt Dolly is one of Ondaatje’s ancient aunts. Although she is old, half-blind, and half-death, she has a powerful memory of the past.

Vere Gratiaen

Vere is Lalla’s brother and drinking partner in their later years. Vere is with Lalla, asleep on the couch, when she walks into the flash flood and drowns to death.

Willie Gratiaen

Willie is Ondaatje’s maternal grandfather, Doris’s father, and Lalla’s husband. Willie dies a few years after he marries Lalla, leaving her a widow with several children.

Running in the Family Characters