Mr. Jordan is the manager of Jordan’s, the factory where Paul is offered a job. Mr. Jordan is a working-class man who has made his way in the world through manufacturing. This reflects growing social mobility in the early twentieth century when the class one was born into gradually became less suffocating. Paul thinks Mr. Jordan is “common” but he is a kindly man underneath his businesslike veneer, and Paul believes that Mr. Jordan feels the need to assert his authority because of his lower-class status. He is an indulgent boss and treats his workers well.