Hyman Kaplan - Other Members of The Class

Other Members of The Class

• Mr Norman Bloom (in the first book) and Mr Reuben Plonsky (in the second book; renamed Olansky in the combined version), both of whom are better than Mr Kaplan at grasping the rules of English, but who somehow end up on the losing side of the arguments that erupt between them.
• Miss Rose Mitnick, a quiet, shy young woman whose grasp of English is almost perfect, but who generally withers before the force of Mr Kaplan's rhetorical passion. Eventually she starts a relationship with the ebullient Nathan P. Nathan.
• Mrs Sadie Moskowitz, characterized by Mr Parkhill as "the Niobe of the beginners' grade", a large, lugubrious middle-aged lady who is baffled by the English language and spends much of the time asleep, waking only to punctuate a particularly intimidating fact with a despairing exclamation of "Oy!"
• Miss Olga Tarnova, an emotional old Russian woman, a retired ballerina who recalls the Imperial days with nostalgia and despises Communism. Her compositions often deal either with her former life or with her interest in Spiritualism.
• Mr Sam Pinsky, a loyal ally of Mr Kaplan.
• Miss Carmen Caravello, an Italian woman prone to loud disagreement with Mr Kaplan.
• Gus Matsoukas, the only Greek in the class, whose dogged pursuit of English is accompanied by near-constant muttering to himself. His one moment of enthusiasm comes when Mr Parkhill begins pointing out how many English words have Greek roots. He eventually returns to Greece.